Evening Briefing for August 19th

* MARKET THEMES FROM WEDNESDAY - An early reversal of overnight weakness took stocks higher, with consistent buying pressure through the session and an impressive hold above Monday's lows. This moved us back into the multi-day trading range that had existed prior to Monday's drop, reversing the short-term downtrend. Strength in commodities and 10-year Treasury yields and weakness in the dollar supported the upmove in stocks for much of the session. As long as we stay above the 990 area in ES that represented yesterday's overhead resistance, we should continue to move into that multi-day range and its pivot level around 1000.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 3:30 AM CT - UK, retail sales.

* EARNINGS: BKS, FL, GME, GPS, HNZ, HRL, PSUN, RTP, TTC

* WORTH READING:

-- Average trading volumes through the day for the S&P 500 e-mini contract;

-- Nice additional look at the changes in daytraders' opportunity sets;

-- Interesting article examining value and momentum as market drivers;

-- Hedge fund managers chasing hot returns and more good reads;

-- Finding opportunities among tax-free bonds;

-- Are we hitting Twitter saturation?

-- Why the foreclosure rate is low in Vermont;

-- How will bringing assets back on their books affect banks?

-- Scary: 2/3 of mortgages are under water in Nevada; half in Florida and Arizona, and 42% in California.
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