Keystone's Morning Wake-Up 4/8/13; Iron Lady Passes; AA Kicks Off Q1 Earnings Season; Chairman Bernanke This Evening

The 'Iron Lady', Margaret Thatcher, passes. Condolences to the U.K. The world news each day becomes overwhelming with drama occurring in all corners. Japan's Nikkei leaps higher above 13220 at one point, the dollar/yen pair hit 99, levels not seen in about four years. The weaker yen sends dollar/yen and euro/yen pairs higher.  China's property headaches appear to be growing. The bird flu is ongoing in Asia so airlines drop but drug makers pop. The North Korea theatrics continue.  Eurozone sentiment is weaker than expected. Greece has problems meeting its bailout obligations. The Portugal yields last week signaled potential trouble and over the weekend headaches surface with meeting its commitments.  The Portugal 10-year yield hit 6.5%. Wild action occurs in markets as central banker money floods into perceived safe havens and divvy stocks.  Global markets become distorted with all the intervention.

Nevertheless, the S&P futures indicate an up open of a few points. The euro is above 1.30. The 10-year yield is 1.72%. It's very simple today, the volatility watch picks up where it left off on Friday with VIX 14.47.  The bull-bear struggle is determined today by VIX 14.47 and SOX 425. Bulls win with SOX above 425. Bears win with VIX above 14.47. For the SPX starting at 1553, the bulls need to touch 1560 and this will accelerate a move to test the all-time closing high at 1565 in quick order. The bears need to push under 1540 to accelerate the downside which will test 1531 in short order. A move through 1541-1559 is sideways action today. VIX 14.47 and SOX 425 is what matters today. If both remain under their respective targets, the broad indexes will float along sideways. If the SOX moves above 425, Keybot the Quant, Keystone's trading algorithm, will likely flip long. Chairman Bernanke speaks this evening and he will obviously pump the QE money talk which will help levitate markets. If he so much as coughs and it sounds like he says 'taper', the markets would sell off in force. AA kicks off earnings season after the bell. China PPI, CPI and Beige Book numbers are released this evening.