The Market's Summer Lull, In October

The market seems to be marking time as investors reload mentally and brace for the deluge of earnings reports out next week. Although Alcoa (AA) kicked off the earnings period last week, the only report out Friday came from India's Infosys (INFY). I'm actually a little surprised that the market was higher on Friday, at times even hinting at moving even higher.

The good news from the trade deficit report was that exports were at the high of the year, but it's clear that slack U.S. demand slowed imports. So, the number might be slightly better than a wash but it's mostly a non-event.

So, too, it would seem are the back to back comments from the administration on the dollar. Larry Summers and Tim Geithner attempted to talk up the dollar, which did climb against some currencies but for the most part was simply lip service.

In fact, the surge in the Shanghai market underscores the fact that nobody believes the dollar is going anywhere but down, even as central banks in Asia have been compelled to buy the dollar in order to lift it a bit. That could translate into some buying of bonds, but also will continue to frustrate those nations sitting on large dollar reserves.

In the meantime, this feels like a summer session, which is fine with me. The Dow Jones Industrial Average acts like it will make one mad dash into the close to re-test session highs.

There are a ton of rumors out there, especially in tech, which has stalled a little. That's what the market needs next week; coupled with better than expected earnings results it would be the perfect one-two punch to get to the next level to see one or two acquisitions.

Written by Charles Payne, CEO and Principal Analyst of Wall Street Strategies (wstreet.com) providing independent stock market research to over 30,000 subscribers, in more than 60 countries. Mr. Payne is a regular contributor to the Fox Business and Fox News Networks. For more information about Mr. Payne, please refer to the company’s website www.wstreet.com.