Permanent

So yesterday, Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, presented a fiscal plan that would permanently raise the debt ceiling in order to avoid congressional action.

I'm just going to let that sit there without comment.

I was surprised to see the futures unchanged this morning. But I shouldn't have been. News doesn't run the market. It may push it around here and there, but it doesn't affect the trend. It adds to the price discovery.

Perhaps the trend may be getting ready to turn. I would rather not take larger positions at the current juncture (S&P 1415). I'd feel better about 1425-1433 or 1385-1390. The S&P has built value at its current price: how it moves away from it (and where to) is what now interests me.

The action in the Japanese yen also interests me. The BOJ just announced another $112 billion in anti-deflation stimulus, apparently not realizing that nothing's worked since their troubles started back in 1989 when the Nikkei was at 39,000. The yen is approaching a key spot on its weekly chart (84.173 USDJPY) which if exceeded will likely draw much attention. I've been short the yen since their terrible earthquake back in March 2011. It's been dead money. But I think weak yen will eventually become a huge multi-year trade.

A failure at 84.173 will make me reconsider the trade even though it's quite small. But it would open the door to new lows in USDJPY meaning a stronger yen in the face of yet more failed stimulus.