All things considered, yesterday was a wonderful consolidation day on very light volume. Friday’s action was somewhat skewed by the tremendous volume associated with the Russell rebalancing. Last week, the market absorbed more negative economic data, especially from the housing sector. Earnings are approaching, and some of the early releases that are not on a calendar year, are showing signs of caution in the forward-looking statements. There were other key issues that investors had to deal with on Monday. The G-20 met and made progress toward what is being called the G-20 Pledge. This is a plan to cut the deficits in half by 2013. However, all nations looking to cut spending and increase taxes at the same time is worrisome to economists. There is likely to be dissention in the ranks, but the world is clearly looking toward the US to provide growth. Despite the obvious market fears over slower growth or even a second dip recession, the market is trying to hold at this level. There was a bit of a flight to safety into Treasuries. That sent the 10-year yield to 3.02%, its lowest level since April 2009. The one thing we can say is that investors aren’t expecting much good news. This could allow for a positive surprise, but we’ll have to wait for earnings. In the meantime, volume was extremely light. The price action stuck to a narrow range. We still have the ISM and jobs reports coming out. Investors are nervous this morning over the potential slowdown of the rate of growth in China.