Abdullah Karatash

For a day with very light trading volumes, it still felt busy.

Stocks dipped into the red, and then back into positive territory, and then back into the red, and then back into positive territory.

Driving the price action was a parade of EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund) headlines culminating in a story in The Guardian talking about a "comprehensive €2 trillion fix."

The Guardian story was a little thin on details.

Players will remain skeptical until a deal is reality but that being said few will be willing to get short now.

After the market closed, earnings from Intel and Yahoo added to the market cheer; Apple's earnings were disappointing though.

Morning earnings for Bank of America and Goldman Sachs were disappointing but the market is expecting a tough outlook for financials.

Consumer giant Johnson & Johnson beat earnings estimates pointing to the resilience of the American consumer.

By the end of the day, the market seemed to forget stories about China's slowing GDP and a Moody's report on France.

In issuance, supra-nationals were active issuing USD denominated debt with the IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction & Development) and the EIB (European Investment Bank) issuing short-dated 2 year or 3 year bonds.

The World Bank is planning a 2 year bond issue.

Flows in the secondary bond markets remain light.

Real money investors are still not buying risk while fast-money players (hedge funds) are starting to dip in and buy risk (get long) again.

The headline parade out of Europe will continue to move the market's overall direction although corporate earnings, excluding financials, are largely supportive of positive sentiment.

The Federal Reserve's beige book and housing start numbers are out tomorrow.