Dividend.com: Midday Playbook

Despite the lack of pop in the averages, there is a lot of strength in various areas of the market -- granted most of it is analyst upgrade-related. Let's take a look at what I am seeing this afternoon.

Bullish:

Analyst Upgrades: Helping shares of Goldman Sachs(GS Quote), Research In Motion(RIMM Quote), Electronic Arts(ERTS Quote), Amdocs(DOX Quote), Starwood Hotels(HOT Quote), KB Home(KBH Quote), KLA Tencor(KLAC Quote), Western Union(WU Quote), Varian Semiconductor(VSEA Quote), Ilumina(ILMN Quote) and Discovery Communications(DISCA Quote).

Gold: SPDR Gold Shares(GLD Quote) is climbing back toward $90. Despite being cut to a hold at Citigroup(C Quote), RandGold Resources(GOLD Quote) is now up $2. Agnico-Eagle Mines(AEM Quote) is also up.

Commodity Plays: Oversold bounce in names like Nucor(NUE Quote), Potash(POT Quote) and Walter Industries(WLT Quote).

Financials: Seeing some key strength in JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Blackrock(BLK Quote).

Wynn Resorts(WYNN Quote): Shares are up nearly 10% today as are other casino plays.

Google(GOOG Quote): Shares continuing some momentum, up another $10 following yesterday's announcement of company pursuing own operating system.

Bearish:

Widely Held Plays: Names like AT&T(T Quote), Wal-Mart(WMT Quote), McDonalds(MCD Quote) and Verizon(VZ Quote) are lagging.

Treasuries(TLT Quote): No surprise that bonds are giving something back today. Favorable jobless claims data helped bring interest rates higher.

AIG(AIG Quote): Down from $24 to $11 in a week after reverse stock split. Pretty soon it will be time for another reverse split. Awful situation, but short-sellers are smiling.

The market needs to give us some direction here. I would not be too aggressive in either direction, but would prefer to wait for a clearer risk/reward opportunity. Today's close will likely give us a clearer picture of how things will shape up as we head into the end of the week.

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