Vulture Hunt

Make no mistake, the vultures were out in full force and in large numbers eating up retail/restaurant, financial, transportation, and homebuilder roadkill.

Vast amounts of money were lost in these groups last year, but we're seeing quite a reversal of fortune unfold before our very own eyes. With "I will take interest rates down to zero if you want me to" Federal Reserve and the Plunge Protection Team at the ready, these vultures are acting very both confident and aggressive after getting their weekly Fed fix.

Throughout the day I was in scramble mode, doing my level best to participate in feast. To do so I made some quick trades in these groups focusing on both stocks like MasterCard (MA) and ETFs like ProShares Ultra Financials ETF (UYG) to grind out some scratch. While I caught a few nice movers, overall I still feel like I missed out on the fun. Given the sheer panic buy mode I saw in some stocks out there, I must not be alone. It was also interesting to see the rush of sellers in the last 15 minutes of trading (who were looking to take profits as quickly as they earned them) AND non-confirmation within the emerging markets.

All in all, today had the polar opposite feel when compared with that pivotal day in December where we gapped higher and then fell like a rock setting up both a disappointing close to 2007 and the subsequent January meltdown. Nevertheless, no need to get ahead of ourselves now and move into panic buy mode. We still need to see confirmation (again a close over S&P 1400) and some good news away from the Fed. When I still see stocks like Covance (CVD), which has been one of the bear survivors taken out following good earnings, I'm still not prepared to give this market the full benefit of the doubt. It hasn't earned that right yet.