Rally Monday!

• Nice rally on Wall Street! Volume looks a little light at first glance, though. The past week we have seen rallies on light volume and sell-offs on heavier volume. That usually doesn't turn out to the bulls' advantage over the long term.  Financials had a great day, and the market does need those to keep moving up.
• Craigslist CEO asks for apology.  Hey, how many folks are tearing out their rose gardens as I type because they no longer need to barter with the Craigslist "rose" currency?
• ATT may offer data plans cheaper, but will it cost you more?  Think about it, as they make a lot of money with overage charges on text messages, why not get the same thing going with data usage?
• Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon to marry girlfriend (neither pictured). No wonder Miranda and Steve couldn't make it work.
• Critical concession talks between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers are being overshadowed by a public spat about the automaker's plans to import vehicles from other countries while it closes 16 U.S. factories.  Again, the union doesn't seem to understand that those union contracts are what led GM here. 
• I saw Star Trek over the weekend.  Great flick. 
• Folks are upset that SlingPlayer mobile for the iPhone only works over wi-fi, as ATT doesn't want to see heavier data drains on their network.  HELLO.  You can download the Orb app and stream content from your PC to your iPhone over 3G.  That includes TV hooked up to your PC, videos on your PC, music on your PC, and any content available on your PC. 

Picture is of Annie Wersching, who plays agent Renee Walker on 24.

Intellectual Ether

• Extremely fugly day on the market.
• The bank rescue plan detailed by Timothy Geithner did not provide vital details of how his plan will work.  I'm not buying that. I think the market took a look at a solution of "spending money we don't have" as a continuation of what George Bush did.
• Wall Street isn't fooled by BS.  The market is tired of the intellectual ether we're getting so far.
• Yesterday, someone asked President Obama about Vice President Biden's comments that whatever they (the Obama administration) do, has a 30% chance of failure.  Cue the SNL skit:  "Look, whatever we do, there's a decent chance it's pure crap.  Completely worthless."
• A new Kindle book reader from Amazon will be available on February 24th.  As I mentioned awhile ago, I've been using my iPhone to read books and such.  At $359, I see no reason to buy a Kindle.  But folks seem to like 'em.
• Did you see who was on the next Dancing with the Stars?  Starts March 9th, FWIW.
• Tom Leykis:   Folks the party is over. It's over. The party of spending, the party of going to Starbucks and spending $50 a week is over.