"Unusually Uncertain" - Ben Bernanke

Cautious comments from US FED Chairman Ben Bernanke were a catalyst to sell stocks into the close yesterday in North America and in Asia overnight; However, this morning the corporate earnings picture looks bright again with most companies once again beating expectations. Thirty-eight of forty-one companies that reported 2nd quarter results this morning beat expectations, including blue chips AT&T, Caterpillar and UPS. Microsoft and Amazon report after the close today.

Also contributing to the gains today was the better than expected number for June existing home sales in the US. This is a sucker's rally on the headline news as resale figures will continue to decline and hit new lows. The rush to buy in April before the home-buyer tax credit expired boosted pending home sales in the first quarter and is still supporting resales since the pending transactions close and show up in resales only 30-60 days later for the most part; However, we already know that pending homes sales collapsed 30% m/m in May seasonally adjusted.

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