MIDDAY LULL

Markets "seem" to be bouncing off SPX 1325 yet again and are now flat after opening higher and heading straight down.

Strong sectors- brokers, ags, metals, utils, insurance and steel while airlines, gaming, biotech, defense and semis lag.

NYSE- 260 net losers;

NAZ- 80 net losers;

NDX- 38 GREEN;

OEX- 50 GREEN;

IBD- 53 GREEN;

IBD 20 BIG CAPS- 8 GREEN- FSLR NXY EOG ECA CNQ HAL POT HES- 12 RED- RIG MA IBM APA WFT NKE MOS BLK RIMM CELG DE CSX;

VIX- down 1%;

Up and down volume about equal;

RSI (2) levels-

SPX 7

DJIA 8

NAZ 13

NDX 12

RUT 24

MID 17

In the latest issue of The Outlook, Standard & Poors has raised their "recession-risk" forecast to 80% from a prior 70%. Why did they change?- "The third consecutive drop in payrolls implies that the economy has clearly moved into recession territory. The data still suggests that the recession will be mild, and we expect first quarter GDP to be only slightly negative."

The issue also discussed the "lost decade" (the last 10 years) where inflation adjusted returns on stocks have been nil- They bring to light a number of mutual funds that have had positive returns every year since 1997- DDIAX EAAFX GABCX PRPFX and PRWCX- and 5 funds with a double digit 10 year annualized gain- CVGRX CGMFX EVTMX FMILX and HFCGX.