Polar-opposite views commonly prevail as to which way the market goes in the nearest-term. Tapering by the Fed is 'assumed' at this point, while clarity it seems must await clarification about policies from Chairman Powell. However the idea of the 'Fed moving faster' is dispelled by the ECB moving slowly, and a tendency for these two to generally have policies more or less in-lockstep.

So you have the bears still bearish, as the bulls say hold your nose and keep buying regardless. Of course they are referring generally to the overpriced 'no value' stocks, but many grind slightly higher while others drop (Amazon and Google down while Tesla is up, as examples). The percentage action clearly is more interesting (and now can be firmer in some cases) in small-cap stocks but they require management reinforcing budding shareholder optimism. Sure that matters only if justified, but investors in all such stocks want real forward vision even if combined with caveats about the supply-chain issues or so on.

Executive summary:

• Earnings growth will definitely be tempered in 2022, hence you won't see a repetition of the past year and you may see more big-cap volatility.

• At the same time small stocks just coming 'of-age' in Ai, AR, infrared, or Silicon Carbide (etc.) may excel and gain further notice given lack of real upside potential in the overblown 'Grand Dame' stocks.

• So underweight Industrials, stability with Energy (as Oil should be firm in a high range for now), and sort of ok with Financials if rates firm slightly, as Banks will do a little better, if they're not overexposed to China loans.

• Be careful about too much 5G optimism, and it might limit cellular gains if people extrapolate too much from an upcoming FAA vs. FCC 'showdown'.

• FAA will enter a test of wills with Federal Communications Commission heads, over the rollout of 5G cell service scheduled for Dec. 5, related to airports.

• Seems the crucial 'altitude' glide-slope and also ground proximity warning devices on ALL commercial aircraft, all are radar/radio based and latest tests show 5G towers near Airports can interfere with the systems, so the FAA has issued a directive about this, but for now those towards are 'live'.

• Cellular providers argue they need to offer 5G given the numbers of folks in an airport vicinity and so on, but that won't wash after the first accident, I will note that 'unexplained' ILS (instrument landing) approaches at Hong Kong that were 'inaccurate' were likely first manifestations of this, quite a fight coming as in over 40 major US markets, airports got 5G first of all.

• Canada is ahead of the U.S on this, having mandated '5G-free' zones at and near all airports, the FAA will have to get FCC to do the same, 'or' an order prohibiting landing in anything other than perfect weather since it's a prohibited procedure to use a compromised radio/radar altimeter.

• I guess the travel turbulence over the holidays would be greater if this, in typical Washington lethargy, isn't resolved immediately, FCC might just be accused of 'caving' to the telecom industry, as they knew how close these frequencies (of 5G and radio altimeters) were to each other.

• Meanwhile, in slowness of Government, the FED is even further behind, in a liquidity bubble inviting the Fed to become more aggressive, though of course they're disinclined to be too tough yet, for good reason.

• Monday was fairly neutral (upward consolidation, small caps worked fairly well), Tuesday could be more of the same.

(San Francisco and Palo Alto haven't made this list..as incomes are so high?)

Limited participation today, tepid start to a new month. Less leadership from the 'grand dames', and more small-mid-cap participation. Actually that's not a bad thing, but also can be just a hiatus or upside consolidation 'pre-FOMC'.

The market may be in a new month, a feeling of surviving October (including a solid correction that held key areas), and not much confidence about going into the high-priced stocks now.

The ECB met last week, others meeting now. These are not extraordinary in a sense, other than all deferring significant tightening for now. It feels defensive, and I mean sort of the market, but also anxiety about the Fed. What we sense so far is none of these central bankers want to be accused of creating a break in the rough recovery efforts during the ongoing pandemic.

And that's part of this: everyone wants to push a market higher, everyone has a desire to see more growth while holding back firming rates (hardly easy task to accomplish), and the argument is we're pulling-forward demand while most things are in short-supply, while demand might then contract once everything is available in quantity.