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).

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.

Today was a flat market day with the DJIA and the S&P off a small amount while NASDAQ gained a few points. But it was better than last week when all style/caps ended the week in the red. Large-cap value was down the least, at -0.8%, while small-cap value was down the most, at -1.11%. 

Four stocks that don't ordinarily make the cut for our institutional portfolios piqued my interest in today's market. One had only two analysts reporting estimates; all had dividends, but none were as high as 2%. For these reasons, they were eliminated from consideration for our institutional portfolios. Yet, all are interesting growth companies, reasonably priced, and in multiple sectors.

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.

Here in Santa Barbara, we refer to the annual summer ritual of heavy marine layer engulfing the coastline for much of the day as the “June gloom.” It can be frustrating to beach-going visitors since there are otherwise no clouds, and the inland areas are brilliantly sunny.

Bulls have regained their footing and recruited some reinforcements, as the S&P 500 on Wednesday powered right through its 5.5-year intraday high of 1576 on increased trading volume to set a new record of 1589.