OT: I'm currently with Schwab and use SSPro but lately I have been having a trade server dropout about every 10 - 20 minutes. Has anyone else been having this problem? I've requested help from Schwab, but haven't gotten a reply yet. If they can't get it sorted out, I'm going to have to switch to a different OLB. Any suggestions?

Looks like da boyz are doing some EOD buying ahead of the Fed tomorrow.

Anyone know the connection between the QLD and the QID. Right now, for example the QLD is down .93% but the QID is only up .38%. I thought these two ran in reverse lock step.

Great site, Lee. Thanks for the tip

Prefect flag set up and breakout. wish I'd known about it 2 days ago.

Yeah, as I recall, Lucent was the most widely held stock in the country back then. And Apple was a has-been outfit that made a few computers.

Some legendary investor said he made all of his money by buying too late and selling too early, but I can't recall who. Bernard Baruch?

Nope, it won't be today. Wouldn't surprise me to see it finish up 5 bucks.

SM - nice move going all-in short last Friday. Gutzy move.

RE: Apple -the numbers looked good, although the iPad sales were lower than analysts expected. Were I an AAPL shareholder, my biggest concern would be the drop in GM. This raises a concern that Apple products may be tending toward lower commodity-style pricing power. There was a time when the iPhone was a dominant Smartphone, but I think that day is ending. I have an HTC Incredible via Verizon and I've compared it side-by-side with a friend's iPhone4 and I sure can't see a clear cut advantage for the iPhone. They are both really terrific devices - although my wife wants to get rid of her Incredible and go back to a phone that just makes calls since she doesn't care to check email every 5 minutes or surf the net while waiting for her food to come at a restaurant. (She likes to have conversation - how retro of her).

As for the iPad, I think it's the ultimate in cool, but at present has limited utility. I have only played with one in the store for about an hour, and while it is fun, it has some limitations. Typing on the virtual KB, at least for me, is very tough compared to a laptop. And, yes, there is a docking station, but for some reason, it doesn't support a mouse - not good in my estimation.

None of these concerns will, of course, deter the Apple Faithful, and I'm sure the stock will recover from its AH drop in a few days, particularly with the Fed acting as the market's insatiable cheerleader.

Canny, what do you think will be a good spot to pick some AAPL up in the near future. $280 ?

AAPL just opened in the 290's

AAPL board says 4:50. I don't know.

AAPL reports 4.64. From the action in the QQQQ and QLD it looks like the market wantred more.

Well, 2 minute to go. The crowds are becoming restless.

Looks like AAPL's halted. ETFs the only way to play it right now.

May we have the drum roll please?

I see we're thinking alike

Do you think Obama will call a news conference to make the announcement...time on all the major networks, etc.

So, what numbers do you all think AAPL has to put up on the board to keep the train rolling?

Nice trade whatever happens. It's nice to catch the momo now and then isn't it?

<<Firm says this is good news for PIP because PIP could receive some or all of the revenue based on a claim it has against SIGA for violating an agreement to turn over rights for ST-246 to PIP>>

Some...maybe. All...not a chance.

Even if you could pay cash, would you in this environment of uncertainty about ownership. Wouldn't it be grand to buy a house with cash and have the current liens paid off, only to find that the mortgage that was paid was paid to a party who didn't actually own the property. Would title insurance companies actually insure that the title was clean in this environment?

I think Ben etal. are all about running the stock market up to get the upper half of America feeling rich again so that they start another spree of buying things they really don't need with the hopes of putting the lower half of America back to work making/selling the things the upper half don't really need.

All these negative waves. Why can't everyone just sit back and enjoy this rally and not worry so much?

Never mind. If XOM is 331B and AAPL is 283B then

310 * 331/283 = 362

assuming XOM stays flat.

That should take about a week or so....10 days at the most.

How much further does AAPL have to go to move up from #2 to the most valuable company in the US?

Hey, Canny, I saw yesterday that Pisani was confirming what you have been saying for months about AAPL driving the QQQQ's. AAPL has a 20% weight in the Nazdaq100 and I think he said that AAPL been responible for 2/3's of the QQQQ gains over the last year. He went on to say that lots of people buy these ETFs thinking they are buying a diverse bundle of stocks, when actually that's not true.

Well, it will rally, of course.

Hear, hear.

SIGA selected for contract award for Smallpox Antiviral drug for the Strategic National Stockpile. Base contract worth $500M. Value if all options are exercised, $2.8B.

Competitor, Chimerix, files protest contending that SIGA is not a small businees and not eligible for SBA set aside based on Ron Perlman's percentage ownership of ~ 30%.

Stock halted.

There's just no stopping the NQs. But let's face. Food and rent are luxuries but iPhones are necessities.

That requires Method #3.

(a) Pray for a PM fade

(b) Rinse and Repeat

If no PM fade, get a beer and lament how stupid you were for selling too early.

Two ways to play this market:

Method #1:

At 3:55 on the day before POMO, take every penny you can scrape up and buy the TQQQ's (2nd mortgage the house if you can qualify).

On POMO day, hold until you sense a peak then sell. Not terribly important when you do this because you'll make a fortune in any case...and there will always be another POMO day coming soon to play the same game again.

Method #2:

At 3:55 on the day before POMO, take every penny you can scrape up and buy the TQQQ's (2nd mortgage the house if you can qualify).

On POMO day, hold until you sense a peak then sell. Not terribly important when you do this because you'll make a fortune in any case...and there will always be another POMO day coming soon to play the same game again.

Well, even the DoD buys some of its S/W overseas because its economically favorable, even though a Defense Science Board study concluded that low level code attempts have been made to infiltrate the DoD network...everything the DoD does these days is networked. It would be the equivalent of letting the fox in the henhouse. And paying for it with taxpayer money.

Fabian, thanks for the treatise. There is a lot of good information to consider in there. I must admit that I struggle with the concept of buy high and sell higher. Maybe it is my consumer mentality, who knows. When I see a stock go from 18 to 25, I have a hard time viewing it as a buying opportunity. I usually view it as the one-that-got-away.

I'll apply some serious thought to what you said.

fabian, I agree with you that the market can, and very well may, go higher. But I do feel as though a correction is due and I'm putting on a few shorts in anticipation of that - nothing serious. Despite the fact that I think the market is overvalued for the current and next 12 months economic outlook, I agree that the market could continue this rally for a while. Reason need never prevail. Could any of us ever forget the goofiness of the internet bubble - it was so out of touch that the talking heads had to create the concept of "new economy" vs "old economy". The "old economy" actually made and sold things, but that wasn't really necessary for the "new economy" companies where the only thing that mattered was what "space" you were in.

<<which is supposed to, but is not, getting people optimistic and spending.>>

It's all about the illusion of wealth. If people don't feel as though they're wealthy, they won't go out and buy a bunch of crap they didn't need in the first place. Gotta have that new phone. What's wrong with the old one, doesn't it make calls? Yeah, but this one has a new jazzy looking screen and I can play stupid little games on it and stuff. And gotta have that new Quad core i7 because my typing speed has picked up so much that I'm always outrunning that 3 year old Dual core 3 GHz machine. And I just can't imagine how I got along without that jumbo sized front loading washer/dryer combo all these years. etc. etc.

Got to get people doing this, because if we all stuck to just buying what we really needed, the economy would crater.

The second lowest in recorded history but, alas, we rejoice.

Canny, methinks that everyone knows the economy is nowhere near as bright as the market is pretending it is, but know one cares. Ride the momo is the rule of the day. You know, who cares why the market is going up? That it is going up is all that matters.

It was a brutal correction, but it seems to be over now. Whew.

Well, that should get all those unemployed (including the millions that we don't count) and underemployed folks running out there to buy new stuff, knowing that all their problems have been solved. Oh, wait, I forgot. This is a jobless recovery - whatever that is.

I'll have to be sure to tell my daughter and her son, who are living with me because she lost her job and home, that everything has been declared as being just fine.

Well, looking at the market action of the past 2 weeks and the futures this morning, one can only assume that if the dollar drops against the yen, that is good news and, conversely, if the dollar rises against the yen that, too, is good news. Good news either way. I would presume that it's also good news if the dollar stayed stable against the yen.