As the charts last week indicated might happen, the S&P 500 has fallen four straight days and failed to hold its breakout above 1800 while the Dow Jones Industrials lost 16,000. Only the NASDAQ is still holding on to its breakout above 4000. Although the Basic Materials sector was the leader on Wednesday, the Technology sector was strong, as well, and in fact Tech stocks have been the strongest over the past week and the past month.

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).

“Stocks fall on Fed taper discussion.” That’s the gist of what you heard in the media on Wednesday to account for the market’s late-day pullback. There’s always some sort of attempt to explain daily market action. But the reality is that investors simply must take a periodic breather to regroup and retrench, particularly when making an assault on round-number resistance for a major index.

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.

Despite overwhelming damage to America’s global face, the dysfunctional politicians in Washington passed a temporary solution to the budget and debt ceiling problems at the very last minute.  But really they only kicked the ball two or three months down the road.  Imagine going through this again in early January after Congress takes its holiday break.

Sabrient's Baker's Dozen 2013 is up 37.24% since January 11, 2013.  The top 5 performers are EPL +80.10%, GNW +71.27%,  JAZZ +53.61%, STX +50.32%, and OCN +47.91%.  All 13 stocks are positive; 12 have double-digit gains, and the only single-digit performer, ASH, is doing fine at +8.09%.Baker's Dozen 2013 up 37.24% YTD.

You can track the Baker's Dozen performance here

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.

Small caps, mid-caps, Financials, Telecom, and Consumer Discretionary were among the market segments that hit new highs this week, even as bearish sentiment and short interest have risen, and there is still plenty of idle cash on the sidelines looking for a home.