Looking for a Fed Mulligan By Rev Shark RealMoney.com Contributor 1/3/2008 4:39 PM EST

It is very tough slogging out there, and despite all the effort, we battled to a virtual standstill today. The bulls had the advantage of an oversold market, positive seasonality and some OK employment numbers, but the bears have momentum, negative news flow and some very ugly-looking charts to help them out.

We are due for at least a short-lived bounce, but no one trusts it to last so no one is giving it enough room to even get going.

We have employment numbers in the morning tomorrow, but those are really secondary to oil and inflation right now. The concern is that the Fed is now trapped by growing inflationary pressures and may not give us the rate cuts and liquidity we need to get this economy moving.

I think the Fed is going to throw us a bone of some sort soon and that will be the catalyst for a decent spike up. I'm not optimistic it will last long, but I'm looking for some sort of news in the near term to give us some momentary relief.

For now we need to stay focused on protecting our precious capital. The opportunities will eventually come. We just need to be patient until the odds are in our favor. In the meanwhile, don't try to force things in an uncooperative market. Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.

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James "Rev Shark" DePorre is the author of Invest Like a Shark: How a Deaf Guy with No Job and Limited Capital made a Fortune Investing in the Stock Market. He is founder and CEO of Shark Asset Management, an investment management firm, and he also operates sharkinvesting.com, an interactive online community that serves and educates active investors. DePorre holds business and law degrees from the University of Michigan, is a member of the Michigan Bar Association and a former tax attorney and CPA. He lives in Anna Maria Island, Fla., with his wife and two children. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Rev Shark appreciates your feedback; click here.

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