The Same Old Game Plan

Say what you want about the economy, the stock market continues to stick with the same old game plan.

While oil prices continue to hit new highs, the U.S. dollar fell to new lows, consumer confidence dropped further, and we received even more bad news on the housing market, stocks still managed to rally back this week. Mostly mixed earnings news with a few bright spots along with massive short squeezes were the theme of the week along with extremely high expectations that Bernanke will soon slash interest rates. Needless to say, if Bernanke doesn't give in to the market's high demands, it will be one of the scariest Halloweens that Wall Street has ever seen.

For the week the Dow gained +2.1%, the S&P 500 +2.3%, the Nasdaq +2.9%, and the Russell 2000 +2.9%. That may seem great until you take time compare those gains with markets around the world. For example, Hong Kong's market was up almost +10% for the week while Latin America rose 6%. In sum, the bulls are running rampant around the globe and while our market did well this week, it simply pales by comparison.

On tap for next week includes lots of earnings and, of course, our savior - Ben Bernanke. Have a wonderful weekend.