Bulls put up a valiant offensive in the last 20 minutes of trading on Tuesday to push the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJX) back above the 10,000 level as the month of August came to a close. For the last six days of August, bears either succeeded or gamely tried to penetrate this psychologically important level intraday only to be repelled by the bulls.

The low-volume “dog days of summer” have been anything but uneventful. Rather than a sleeping dog, this summer has been more like a rabid dog—gyrating wildly and scaring the heck out of everyone in its path.

Last week provided the start of another leg down in what has been an unpredictable stock market, and the market now appears to be in the midst of forming another bear flag. Since rolling over and selling off strongly in late April, the market has demonstrated all sorts of conflicting formations that have confounded trend traders and investors.

As I pointed out back in June, cash on hand among S&P 500 companies has been at record levels, and up 25% over the same time last year. One would presume that such cash levels would eventually be used for share buybacks, M&A, or dividend increases – all of which would impact the market favorably.

Ron manages the virtual high-dividend portfolio called Rock Solid Yields and writes a periodic blog called Macro View of the Markets, which looks at the global economic factors that move the markets.   At Sabrient he coordinates various special products primarily related to Sabrient's ventures in the online retail market.  Sabrient’s re

In these uncertain times, investors are flocking to safe-haven ETFs, such as the Claymore/Sabrient Defensive Equity ETF (DEF), which tracks the Sabrient Defensive Equity Index

The Rock Solid Yields Portfolio, managed by Ron Rutherford, generates cash flow from a value portfolio of stable, high-paying dividend stocks.

Nothing seems to be strong enough to lift the market out of its doldrums.  Not the shiny corporate earnings announcements from Wal-Mart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD).  Not the exciting merger talks between BHP Billiton (BHP) & Potash (POT) or between Intel (INTC) & McAfee (MFE). Not the slightly improved global economic picture.

The Sabrient Blog offers expert analysis and opinion on the markets through the multiple lenses of our bloggers.  To track your specific areas of interest, check out these regular posts: