Just something I'm listening to at the moment (Mozart's Requiem); I used to sing the Baritone part for this; an all-time favorite during work hours…..I'm looking up something using one of these songs for the end of the year…..

Pretty bearish day so far; if we can just get below 857 on the ES things would really kick in. As it is, the retracement level is holding firm.

In this tightly-bound market, one is inclined to take nickels instead of dollars. In any event, the ES is certainly showing signs of weakness. I closed my long position earlier today at 868 for a small loss and shorted it at that level; I covered at 861, but I am open to re-entering the short if we can get below that 857 level.

The difficulty of trading this market recently can be summed up in one chart:

As has been said of Oakland, "there's no there there." The amplitude of the market has dithered its way into nothingness, and I think bulls and bears alike are eager for 2009 so that something – anything – can happen.

More dynamic has been the EUR/USD, which has had a pretty nice upswing overnight.

You can see the breakout spanning months take place about a week ago and the smaller breakout take place last night. This looks really bullish when zoomed in this close, but the conclusion is murkier when these breakouts are viewed in a greater context.

My bullishness on energy will probably be well-served by much a move (and pre-market quotes indicate so), but I think this entire week is going to be a beast of confusion. Bear with me as the question marks circle their way around my head.