David Fry's Market Outlook for Tuesday

Looks can be deceiving. While the DJIA posted a small gain -- owing to the Chrysler deal -- the rest of the market put on a pretty pathetic show. Volume was so-so, and the following advance/decline data was more revealing as to the true nature of the day’s action.

Pundits claim investors are just waiting for the CPI data Tuesday before committing one way or another. Frankly I don’t know what might surprise them, since even a negative headline CPI number has never bothered bulls before. It’s the "core rate" silly!

If you're a bull, you might just set today aside as a typical bull market-type Monday when selling can be more dominant. There’s still a long way to go until Friday with plenty of news in between.

More disappointing however is the poor action from small-caps and tech.

Investing overseas has been more fun and rewarding, but not today.

U.S. markets were weak overall with only the DJIA higher abetted by Chrysler. The rest of the field was tense ahead of the CPI, and therefore sold-off some. The CPI means little to me, since the method of calculation is laughable. But what I think matters little -- since others are in charge of the tape.

Disclaimer: Among other issues, the ETF Digest maintains long or short positions in: S&P 500 Index (SPY), iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM), NASDAQ 100 Trust Shares ETF (QQQQ), iShares Goldman Sachs Technology Index Fund (IGM), First Trust DJ Internet Index ETF (FDN), PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductor (PSI), iShares Goldman Sachs Software Index Fund (IGV), PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bearish (UDN), streetTRACKS Gold Trust ETF (GLD), PowerShares DB Energy Fund (DBE), PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC), Rydex S&P Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD), iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund ETF (EFA), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund ETF (EWY), iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund (ILF), iShares Trust FTSE-Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI), iPath MSCI India ETN (INP), iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund (EWA) and iShares MSCI Canada Index ETF (EWC).