The market was a little oversold. I think this (the run-up) is mostly technical. I don't think you can read too much into it, since there weren't a lot of drivers.

There are still some significant headwinds out there, but I have to say, the market has held up pretty well. But ... we're still stuck in the same trading range we've seen for months, and it'll take better news to break out of it.

It's not going to have much significance for most market participants. Institutional investors tend to focus more on the S&P 500 and some of the other indexes.

People are waiting to see what kind of change in policy language is going to accompany that statement. The question is, if the Fed is approaching (a neutral stance), how will its policy change in 2006?

The market in general is not anywhere near the peaks it hit during the end of the bubble.

You're having a little bit of digestion today. The Wal-Mart news is going to an issue that is concerning investors in 2006, which is namely the health of the consumer. Is consumer spending, which has really driven the economy, going to hold up?

We're just winding down the year, ending the year with these sort of small, middling gains, which to me makes sense because you've had opposing factors this year. On the one hand you've had good earnings and a robust economy, but on the other hand, you've been fighting the Fed. The two canceled each other out.

You have to ask yourself, if you sever the profitable part of a company from the part of the company that's less profitable, what do you have left? To me, this is an area that still has to develop, and I don't necessarily know if I would go forward with that.

The selling you're seeing is nearly all on the tech side, and you're seeing resilience in other parts of the market. This tells me that people aren't panicking over Japan or anything else.