Evening Briefing for July 23rd

* MARKET THEMES FROM THURSDAY - Upside breakout lifts stocks to bull market highs. Those highs were well confirmed by such indicators as advance-decline and new highs/lows, with over 3000 new 20-day highs. Bullish themes dominated across asset classes with oil strong and weak 10-year Treasury prices (rising yields), but strengthening in the U.S. dollar and weakening of gold in the afternoon led a late stock market retreat from the day's highs. Given the strong upside momentum and the tendency of momentum peaks to lead ultimate price highs, it would not be surprising for pullbacks to be limited on the way to new bull highs.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 11:30 PM CT - Japan, Industry activity index; 1:45 AM CT - France, consumer confidence; 2:00 AM CT - France, PMI; 2:30 PM CT - Germany, PMI; 3:00 AM CT - EU, PMI; 3:30 AM CT - UK, GDP.

* EARNINGS: SLB.

* WORTH READING:

-- Longest winning streak in Asia since 2004;

-- Interesting look at the bond/stock relationship;

-- Continued problems at regional banks;

-- Overview of Fed policy and where it might be headed;

-- Recap of the strong market day;

-- High frequency trading getting more scrutiny.
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