• Stock investors are surveying the view from these lofty heights, with the S&P 500 trying to hold up just below the 1700 level, and they appear to be feeling some vertigo. They are wondering if there will be a catalyst to take stocks higher before Labor Day, or if the dreaded correction is imminent. However, my concern is that investors might be hamstrung by a perceived no-win situation.

Until today, the stock market had lost its year-end traction, and it is exclusively due to the unresolved Federal budget and the looming Fiscal Cliff and debt ceiling. Optimism among investors that something will certainly get done had fallen victim to political theater and the reality that our elected officials view compromise as a sure path to losing their next election.