Mon, 10/10/11 4:42 PM – Stocks Continue Sharp Gains

DJIA 3.0%
S&P 500 3.4%
Small Stocks 4.3%
Europe 1.9%
Asia mixed

Gold 2.55%
Oil 3.8%

Bonds anywhere from down slightly on treasuries to 2.1% for high yield

This is continued trading on the Merkel and Sarkozy promises that Germany and France would find a way to recapitalize the banks and get bondholders to take more of a hit on Greek bonds. They said it would be the end of the month before they had a concrete deal and that is three weeks away.

Earnings reporting starts this week and profits will be OK but forecasts are likely to be lower than previously anticipated. The 2-3 weeks of earnings season are usually flat to slightly down. Economic reports come out later in the week.

For now, call it short-covering and a scramble to get invested again after extreme bearish sentiment early last week. The market does not have to have big corrective days for awhile but some may take profits in the next couple days as we are now back near the top of the trading range for the last nine weeks.