Evening Briefing for August 24th

* MARKET THEMES FROM MONDAY: We traded higher in morning trading, making fresh bull highs, before selling retraced the morning range and then some. This sets us up with a range trade between Monday's highs and lows. Should we break below those lows, we then look to Friday's pivot level as a downside target. Holding above Monday's lows would target Monday's pivot. During the stock market's retreat, we saw the U.S. dollar fall versus the euro; gold and oil weaken; and 10-year Treasury rates fall back below 3.5%. In short, we saw profit taking among the risk assets and buying of relatively safe assets.

* OVERSEAS/OVERNIGHT NUMBERS: 1:00 AM CT - Germany, GDP; 6:50 PM CT - Japan, merchandise trade balance.

* EARNINGS FOR TUESDAY: BGP, BIG, BKC, CHS, MDT, SPLS.

* WORTH READING:

-- Insightful interview with Charles Kirk;

-- Recap of where we stand in the major stock indexes;

-- The challenges central banks face in unwinding monetary ease;

-- Excellent review of economic gauges;

-- Global economic review.
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