Evening Briefing for July 26th

* THEMES FROM FRIDAY'S SESSION - Friday saw a consolidation of Thursday's breakout gains, with afternoon strength kicking in after early weakness. As of this writing, we are trading at fresh bull highs in the S&P 500 Index. Thursday's strength displayed unusually bullish momentum, so it would not be surprising to see follow-through price strength before a sizable correction manifests. Strength in oil prices has accompanied the stock market strength, though gold lagged on Friday and we did not see sustained weakness in the U.S. dollar on Friday. The rise in shares has been led by the growth-oriented sectors--small caps, NASDAQ--suggesting continued risk appetite among traders and investors. Excellent review of the market week.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 3:00 AM CT - EU, Money Supply.

* EARNINGS: AMGN, VZ

* WORTH READING:

-- Best selling mutual funds, the role of emerging markets, and more good reading to start the market week;

-- Reflections on the stock market's underlying trend;

-- Market recap and a look at the market's trend;

-- Weekend market review;

-- Updates from a variety of blogs.
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