12:00 pm : Inch by little inch, the market keeps setting new highs today as sellers have once again been shown the door fairly early.  One can't rule out their return, but with relative strength in the influential financial (+0.5%), energy (+1.4%), technology (+0.4%), and industrials (+0.5%) sectors, it should prove difficult to establish a foothold.

The divergence between the cyclical and countercyclical sectors is agin becoming apparent and demonstrative of an offensive-minded market.  The four weakest areas today are the consumer staples (-0.6%), utilities (-0.2%), telecom services (-0.2%), and health care (-0.1%) sectors.

Treasuries continue to slip as well, inch by little inch.  The 10-yr note is down six ticks with its yield at 1.98%.DJ30 30.25 NASDAQ 9.67 SP500 4.40 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1447/750 mln/945 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1888/212 mln/1009

11:25 am : The market was ripe for some profit taking and that is what transpired when the opening bell rang.  By the same token, it was ripe for a buy-the-dip trade -- a trade that has worked for a long time -- and that is what transpired after some initial sellling pressure.

The gains for the major averages today are modest in scope, yet meaningful nonetheless when taking into account that the S&P 500 was up 4.4% since the end of April alone entering today's session and up 17% year-to-date.  The lack of any concerted selloff, and the fear of missing out on further gains, continues to pique buying interest.

Notably, the major averages have advanced to their best levels of the morning at the same time the Treasury market has surrendered earlier gains and retreated to its lows for the morning.  The 10-yr Note, up