Stocks Sharply Higher into Final Hour as Energy Prices Plunge and Economic Data Exceeds Estimates

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher into the final hour on gains in my Biotech longs, Computer longs, Networking longs and Energy-related shorts. I exited the remainder of my (IWM) and (QQQQ) shorts 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 gaining and volume is average. The Dow Jones Transportation Average is making another all-time high today. It has risen 120% since 2003 lows. It is also 15% above highs set during the bubble. This has to be a bit disconcerting to the U.S. secular bear crowd. The ISE Sentiment gauge is dropping 29% today down to the lowest level since last October. Considering today's gains and tomorrow's Bernanke speech, this is a positive. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on short-covering, lower commodity prices and bargain hunting.