Stocks Lower Heading into Final Hour on Energy Price Rise, Tech Downgrades and Profit-taking

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower mid-day on losses in my Retail longs and Energy shorts. I took profits in my COP short and a trading long, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market is negative as the advance/decline line is lower, most sectors are falling and volume is average. Measures of investor anxiety are mostly lower. Merrill Lynch put out a note this morning that said there are a "breathtaking" number of fund managers predicting the dollar will drop against the yen this year. I suspect just the opposite will occur as U.S. growth continues to outperform that of other developed nations, U.S. stocks rise further, the global mania for emerging market stocks wanes, the U.S. "twin deficits" come in better than estimates, inflation decelerates, energy prices continue to fall and foreign demand for U.S. assets remains high. I expect US stocks to trade mixed from current levels into the close as profit-taking and worries over Iran offsets lower long-term interest rates and short-covering.