Stocks Reverse Sharply Higher into Final Hour on Diminishing Subprime Angst, Short-Covering

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher into the final hour on gains in my I-banking longs, Medical longs, Semi longs, Biotech longs and Base Metal shorts. I covered some of my (EEM) short and all of my (IWM)/(QQQQ) hedges this morning, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is positive as the advance/decline line is higher, almost every sector is rising and volume is above average. AppleInsider is reporting today that, according to two recent reports, Mac sales are accelerating faster than anticipated across the board. Numerous pundits and analysts attempted to paint a negative picture of Apple (AAPL) back when the stock was around $90 per share on news of the iPhone. These bearish comments, which were hailed as hard-hitting and thorough analysis at the time, rarely mentioned the traction of the Mac or the inferior competition that the iPhone would face. I suspect similar bearish attacks will occur next week in an attempt to paint the iPhone’s release as a flop. I plan to use any material weakness in the shares to add to my long position, which is my second largest, behind Google (GOOG). I continue to believe that even the most optimistic investors are underestimating the company's financial prospects going forward and that the stock still has substantial upside. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on short-covering, diminishing sub-prime angst and bargain-hunting.