On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rallied hard in the last 20 minutes to finish right near the flat line, but it still closed with a fractional loss, which makes it the fifth straight loss since last week’s Independence Day patriotic rally. It is now testing technical support at a level of prior-resistance-turned-support.

During the month of May, the Dow Industrials managed only five positive days, but June has offered up some recovery so far. Despite the persistently negative news we are inundated with each day—creating real trepidation among investors—there are actually a lot of promising signs here in the U.S., and the technical picture seems to have entered a holding pattern as investors await signs of improving stability elsewhere.

Last week I noted that there wasn’t much new to say about the stock market and its drivers lately, but like washing your car tends to attract rain, my comments were immediately followed by anger-driven election results in France and Greece. Both of these elections were about a rejection of austerity mandates placed upon a citizenry already feeling severe pain. The thought process is, “If the U.S.