Chuck e Cheese

Took the little gladiator twins to Chuck e Cheese this weekend. They apparently had a good time. Strangely enough I seemed to be the only adult male or female not sporting a tattoo on his or hers neck or throat! There is a God however as I learned they served draught beer in hearty 16oz portions!

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke conducted a rare interview on 60 Minutes last night, conducted himself admirably, and gave the impression of a steady hand at the wheel.

To the markets, a busy week ahead. Housing starts, PPI, CPI, and a Fed meeting, will drive the tape. More importantly is weather this recent bounce is the one, or just another failed bear market rally. Volume is the weapon of the Bull. In this recent advance, volume has been acceptable but not spectacular, and each day of the advance is on less volume than the last. An 8% rise on middling and declining volume, sparked by gauzy comments out of broken financials, inspires in me less and less desire to hold my dwindling long positions. Should we continue at this pace, we are just setting up the equity pins to be knocked down by the bears.

The most recent bear plunge that is seared into my memory is the Tech wreck of almost a decade ago now. This grueling event lasted a full 31 months, The basis of that sell off was essentially the bursting of an overheated tech/dot com bubble. This time around the underpinnings of the sell off, a real estate/banking/credit crash seem much more severe and we are only 18 months into this plunge. Either way it shouldn't matter as we always strive to fight on the winning side in this arena, but it is something to look out for.

Perhaps in honor of St. Patricks day, futures are looking very green this morning. Fading a Monday morning gap up on day five of a dubious stock advance... easier money than walking into a bank branch with a mask and a gun!