The U.S. stock market has been reluctant to provide eager bulls with a tasty entry point ahead of the much anticipated year-end rally. Although the major indexes have seen fit to consolidate a bit and work off some of their overbought conditions, bulls have hoped for a something more substantial. But very few holders are selling these days.

Like any superhero or action movie star who relies upon a “trusty sidekick,” Mr. Market stays strong, confident, and bold with the Federal Reserve at his side. Chairman Bernanke (and heir apparent Janet Yellen) firmly believes that the wealth effect provided by rising stock and housing markets is essential for maintaining consumer spending and corporate earnings growth.

As I and most other observers expected, stocks took the go-signal from Congress and burst through all prior resistance levels with barely any hesitation. And why not?

As most everyone expected, Congressional brinksmanship gave way to an eleventh hour agreement that will put the government back in business and raise the debt ceiling. However, it’s only a temporary measure that merely defers another knock-down/drag-out for a few months. The question is, how will investors react after an initial bullish burst of relief?

The intransigence continues in Washington, and it has kept stock market buyers at bay until they get the go signal from Congress. This has left the sellers in control as investor sentiment has temporarily shifted from a buy-the-dip mentality to protect-your-gains and preservation-of-capital.

Stock market bulls have been reluctant to let the market fall very far. Support seems to arrive whenever the bears get too bold. It seems the bulls are bound and determined to have their Q4 rally, especially with the Fed continuing to blow wind in their sails. They just need Congress to wave the green flag.

You know by now that the Fed last week opted not to begin tapering its quantitative easing (i.e., buying of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities), primarily for two reasons, I believe. First, rapidly rising long-term interest rates were already starting to hurt the recovering housing market (and the resulting wealth effect).

Did you buy a market index call option in advance of the FOMC announcement on Wednesday? Maybe a straddle? Or did you at least hold pat on long positions knowing that you held an implicit “Fed put” against any meaningful downside? It seems like many investors did one of these, as markets have been strong in advance of today’s announcement.

Needless to say, the news headlines have been dominated by the ongoing saga of President Obama posturing against Syrian dictator Assad and his chemical weapons arsenal. Who’d have thought that Russia would emerge as the cool head in the mix? They must be basking in the limelight -- an unfamiliar role for them.

Stocks have shown some resiliency this week as they have made an attempt to recover from last week’s weakness, which was primarily due to the imminent threat of a US strike on Syria. Also, the senior portfolio managers are returning to the fold after taking some time off in late August, and they are likely seeing more opportunities than threats at the moment.