The market is bouncing around a bit on mixed economic reports, but the big event will be Speaker Boehner's press conference at 1:15 p.m. EST. I'm concerned if there isn't some hint of movement by either side that the market will worry that no deal will get done by year's end. There just won't be enough time left with the holidays upon us.
This uncertainty is reflected in very dull trading this morning. There are a few takeover plays on the gainers list, but trading is very slow overall. Breadth on the Nasdaq is weak while the NYSE is still doing well due mainly to strength in financials. Big-cap tech stocks are mostly red while gold and silver are breaking down badly. Retail and chips are also relatively weak, and there is no real theme of interest.
I'm playing a couple of small-cap junk stocks intraday, and I'm even bored enough to try to catch a short-squeeze bounce in Herbalife (HLF). TASER International (TASR), which I mentioned Monday, is shaping up nicely and should see momentum interest above $8.50.
