Another day of the stimulus waiting game, which has caused the markets to gyrate up and down.  Alyssa Farah, a Whitehouse spokesperson, stated:

• We could see some movement in the next 48 hours
• I think this is the best we've felt about a deal to date
• Committed to getting a stimulus package

House Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin are continuing talks and are scheduled to speak again today. When Pelosi was asked if she think there will be a deal by election, she said, “Well, I hope so. We can certainly hope so…”

At midday, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are in the green, and the Dow has turned negative.  Only, 2 S&P 500 are positive with Communication Services outperforming, on the heels of a blow earnings report from SnapChat (SNAP), and Energy is underperforming.

Breadth is negative, advancers and decliners are pretty much neck and neck, and new highs are far outpacing new lows.

Mortgage applications in total declined for a second week in a row, down 0.6%, after slipping 0.7% in the previous week.  Mortgage rates rose slightly up 0.2% to 3.02% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, but this is still close to historic lows.

• New mortgage applications -2.1%, 4^th week of declines
• Refinance applications +0.2%