We saw a decent bounce off our lows from March 10, with most major Indexes up close to 4% since the Fed worked their magic with rates and liquidity. The most luminous storm clouds (financials) continue to cause alert and make any market buyers nervous. So it seems to be a couple cautious steps up and take the gains. Today, the early afternoon of March 27th, brings some more pessimism by traders in shares of Lehman Brothers, -8% as concerns mount on the largest mortgage bondholder in the US. In addition to our persistent fears here, now we have more unrest in Iraq and possibly some oil supply interruptions. Oil now is around $107 a barrel.

The biggest surprise of the day had to be the weakness in the Tech Sector as Oracle reported worse than expected revenues and is down close to 8%, dragging that sector lower with it. The way to play this market seems to be to take small risks, collect small gains and live to play on. The VIX is trading roughly 26 which indicates we may be settling in to smaller daily movements in the near term. My neck was getting sore from the daily 250 swings in the Dow so I welcome rest. Good Luck!

Steve Quirk

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