As stock traders take a break for Thanksgiving, all the major averages have hit new highs after breaking through psychological resistance levels, including the S&P 500 at 1800, Dow Jones Industrials at 16,000, and NASDAQ at 4000. Tech stocks were the big leaders on Wednesday after a strong earnings report from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

I was watching the ABC World News the other evening, and I was struck by the commercials they ran. The target demographic is obviously an older crowd (and since I was watching, I guess that includes me). Advertised products within the short 30-minute newscast addressed a variety of age-related ailments like low-T, erectile dysfunction, overactive bladder, constipation, hemorrhoids, and loose dentures.

Confusion continues to reign across the global marketplace. If there's no safe place to invest, does that mean you should invest nowhere? Or should you invest where it's relatively safe?

To put things into perspective, let's start with the backdrop to last week's market behavior.