It seems as though the market continues to anticipate an economic recovery but a solid future for this country hinges on two factors, jobs and the banks lending. Without these two key areas improving in 2010, a sustainable recovery may be very difficult. Due to the government intervention in the market the cross currents are at historic levels. On a fundamental level, a sweet spot remains: low interest rates giving stocks an advantage, social security issues forcing people to stay the course, headline risk falling, low inflation, and strong corporate earnings in most sectors. The catch to the equation is that the sweet spot is still being funded by our government. If they can navigate out of the market as effectively as they navigated in, by managing interest rate expectations, this year should be a good year. Although many of the banks have paid back the TARP dollars, the key will be when all stimulus is out of the market and the economy is growing on its own. This quarter the market interpreted all news to be good news as the S & P Index moved up breaking resistance levels and then reestablishing downside support at these same levels. 2009 was clearly a year of earnings and recovery and 2010 will be the year of interest rates. Before this financial crisis, earning and interest rates determined the direction of stock prices. Eventually we will return to this model although in the meantime we need to consider the big picture in the investment process as well.