<p>Bernanke has been more hawkish for a while giving the impressions of starting a rate hike cycle. At the moment, the US Dollar is down 0.63, gold is up $20, silver is $0.31 and crude is at $136.97 (is that a record high?). So commodity traders apparently don’t believe in the rate hike story. Tech stocks, especially multinationals, have reported strong earnings. The question is can their strength overcome the weakness of the financials and companies dependent on the consumer? That’s the million dollar question and it’s probably responsible for a good amount of the volatility this year. </p>
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