Investors dumped equities late last week ahead of the weekend – largely due to the tenuous situation with Greece’s debt and the associated fall in the euro (and a commensurate rise in the dollar). But I also think there was a flight-to-safety ahead of the 9/11 anniversary, especially among Wall Street traders given the terror threats and heavy security in NYC.

Needless to say, the Federal debt ceiling issue is now dominating the news wires, and although investors have so far been confident that some deal would be reached, the late hour is starting to spook some. After being given a glimmer of hope last week, we learned after last Friday’s close that the debt debates had fallen apart, leaving investors squirming about what this critical week ahead of us would bring.

As the market has shown renewed strength, Technology and Energy have been leaders. Apple (AAPL) gave a stellar earnings report and hit another record high. IBM (IBM) also chipped in this week with a great report. However, Yahoo!

Fear Factor Up . . . So is the Market Despite Mid-East Turmoil

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems

The market shrugged off the serious instability in the Middle East today, after tanking on those fears on Friday. The Dow, the Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 were all up, with the S&P 500 up the most, +0.77%.