Evening Briefing for September 16th

* MARKET THEMES FROM TUESDAY: We once again powered to new bull market highs, with the intermarket themes of weak U.S. dollar and strong gold and oil continuing to kick in. Gains were particularly solid among small cap issues, showing risk appetite among traders. Selling pressure, as measured by NYSE TICK, was light all day long. Over 2000 more stocks advanced than declined on the NYSE, sending the advance/decline line to yet another bull high. New 65-day highs soared to 2327 issues across the NYSE, NASDAQ, and ASE; new lows were only 101. The market is gaining strength, and that positive momentum is keeping pullbacks short and shallow. As long as we continue to see dominant buying sentiment and intermarket risk themes in gear, the path of least resistance will continue to be up. Market wrap here.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 3:30 AM CT - Great Britain, retail sales; 4:00 AM CT - EU, merchandise trade balance; 6:00 AM CT - Canada, CPI. Earnings reports scheduled for Thursday can be found here.

* WORTH READING:

-- More overbought than we've ever been;

-- Fascinating post on how statistical filters affect trading performance;

-- CDS market shows default risk dropping significantly;

-- Consumer confidence up, but consumer spending down;

-- Seven big questions about the economy and more good reading;

-- Bank lending continues to fall;

-- Worthwhile site looking at historical odds of market moves.
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