What a crazy morning.  Theresa May and Xi Jinping extoll the virtues of free trade and global markets, even as the former makes it clear she would do without such relations with the rest of Europe without the right exit deal, and the latter evokes Lincoln to prove his point(s).

According to reporting by Adam Lashinsky at Davos President Xi declared that “no one will win a trade war,” adding that locking oneself in a dark room assuredly will keep out the rain but also sunshine and fresh air.

Remember yesterday when the Vice Chancellor of Germany replied to a potential 35% tariff on German cars from a Trump Administration by saying more or less to the President- Elect  “don’t hate the player hate the game,” and make better cars.

Ouch!

Stocks opened under a fair amount of pressure as investor attempt to extrapolate what tweets about the strong dollar means for the market.  Generally, the dollar coming in a bit should be good news for the stock market especially the big publicly traded names that dictate broader index moves.

The chance the GOP Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) could have been snuffed out is music to the ears of retailers and other businesses that import products.   Consequentially, retailers are edging higher along with key defensive areas:

• Consumer Staples XLP +1.3%
• Utilities XLU +1.0%
• Consumer Discretionary XLY +0.3%

I like the way the market is holding up, and while I realize the longer it lingers the greater risk builds for a significant pullback (not correct or crash), but there is underlying resolve that has to be recognized as well.

That being said this is the perfect session to see the Dow climb into the plus column into the close or we could re-test intraday low point.  Right now the market is ebbing and flowing without conviction either way.  

I’m not sure how long this persist but think it’s critical to have a position going into the inauguration even though Wall Street has promoted the idea of buy the election (well after calling for the wrong winner and initially warning all hell would breakout), sell the inauguration.