When a democracy like Germany cant decide what they want, its a sign of brewing trouble. Look at it this way -- the ruling party ( who was clearly anti-US in sentiment) had an upstart (pro-US) grab significant market share and now the country is deadlocked. Same happened in NZ over the weekend- When a country cant decide which way it wants to lean, or how gov't social programs (read taxes) should be spent its a sign of trouble ahead.
the es movement seemed about right to me since the ftse held up well and has stayed positive all morning --- we did hit 1239.00 at the low and that was over 3 points from fridays close. the dax did come up a good amount from its low also so the es move seems about right.
jem--The upcoming EU meeting is why. With Germany deadlocked and an apparently caretaker gov't there, France voted against the EU constitution , so their leadership is suspect, no one is left to guide the EU. Perhaps this is the first crack that breaks up the EU. IMHO, institutional money will begin to exit Germany and head to more poitically stable places.
If I were to characterize the indexes (and the markets they represent) as a trader, I would describe it as walking with an overconfident swagger. Thus far, it has effectively floated over the potholes in its path with mild disdain. That observation, even if accurate, is meaningless intraday and from one day to the next. However, I just can't help but think that an interesting longer-term setup is brewing, like one of those really big high school zits that take a long time to articulate but really make their mark in due course.