Bailout Vote Keeps Market on Hold

The Employment Report was not good, but probably priced in yesterday after the Weekly Jobless Claims number. Nonfarm payrolls fell 159k in September, although the Unemployment Rate held steady at 6.1%.

WFC is merging with WB in a stock-for-stock deal without FDIC assistance. Well.....how about that? If there was a Financial Institution that wasn't going to go running to the government for help, I would have expected it to be WFC.....good for them! And good for WB to get the deal done without the greedy stubbornness of company's like LEH and WM. The deal is valued at $7.00 per WB share. It looks like capitalism still has a tiny heartbeat left after all.....now to see if the gigantic pork barrel spending project - I mean bailout - will get passed today in the House.

Speaking of the bailout, pre-market futures are holding steady, and even a little positive despite the Nonfarm payroll number, probably because of what I just re-capped: Traders are watching the bailout, the WFC/WB merger, and the fact that traders probably priced in some of the bad Jobs Data yesterday.

As long as the Dow can't get above 10,650 I will maintain a bearish stance, and the possibility for another fade later in the day. But if the Dow starts pushing through the short term resistance (10,600 - 10,650) and clears 10,700 then I won't look for a fade, but rather another wacky back to back down - up crash that seems to be the norm the past several weeks.....