BREAKING OUT NEWS

Good numbers from Wal-Mart and HP, good news in regard to new capital for mortgage insurance companies, good economic news, good news from Cuba, good news from Venezuela, good news from Pakistan --- the market seems ready to respond to a long list of good news.

Some of the good news is about world wide economic strength. For example, in January, auto sales were up 41% in Brazil, Australia and Scotland announced record low unemployment rates, home prices jumped in Hawaii, residential sales jumped in Detroit and home prices in London went up for the first time in two or three years. In the USA, the production of high tech equipment jumped 18.7% over last years pace. As mentioned before, India announced the addition of 83 million cell phone subscribers since last year!

The international political news is generally breaking "our way". The passage of three key bills in Iraq means that political reconciliation between Shiites and Sunnis is moving forward. The votes in Pakistan show that democracy is on the march. The step down of Castro opens a door of hope to the people of Cuba.

Technologies such as femtocells are seeing rapid adoption. Femtocells is the packing of cell phones with a second band that automatically takes the phone signal over the Internet when ever the phone is in range of a wireless router. The reason this technology is going to be adopted quickly is because it saves the cell phone companies such a massive amount of money. What is so different now is that a great idea can be implemented so quickly. For example, a web site has been set up that allows those who find out that they have an STD to send an anonymous email to multiple sex partners. We do not condone the behavior that makes this necessary but we do hope that those who might have a disease learn that they should be check during the early phase of the disease.

Some of the new technologies are finding new avenues of support for additional research. A lab in South Korea has accepted a fee of $150,000 to clone a woman's dead dog. Amazing things are going to come from genetics labs over the next several years. The idea that the first person who lives to be 1,000 years old is likely to be born only 10 years after the first person to live to be 150 years is a mind bending concept. Once we know how to regenerate one "system" the next will not be far behind. It is already true that by pass heart patients when injected with their own stem cells, derived from extra fat cells, grow new heart muscle and new veins.

One of the new robots, is a submarine that draws power from the difference in warm and cold ocean water. It runs off an electric motor and keeps going for an undetermined amount of time. Scientist are getting a tremendous number of reading such as water temperature, salinity and plant life from these robots. Another new robot will be sold to the public this fall. It is a new Elmo doll that kicks interactivity up a whole new notch for a price of $59.99.

BAD NEWS

Yes, there is still a lot of bad news to be found. A refinery explosion in Texas has taken 75,000 barrels per day of product off the market. Home prices are still falling in former "hot spots" such as Miami, Phoenix and San Diego. Iraq is still flaring over 600 million cubic feet of gas per day and Russia, Nigeria and Iran all flare almost as much. Long term interest rates are ratcheting back up.

OH LONG TERM INTEREST RATES ARE RATCHETING UP!

This bad news is another case of bad news being good news. The rates are going up because economic activity is picking up. Those who have been waiting for the best loan rate before buying a home had better act quick! The BOOM, BOOM, BOOM is coming. ARE YOU READY?!