Despite all the terrible news and the correction in March, the market did rather well in the first quarter. Other than gold stocks and the Venture (which were essentially flat), and the unfortunate circumstances in the uranium sector, most sectors did quite well - energy stocks were up an impressive 19%. Usually, a positive first quarter leads to further gains in the year.

Looking at some five year charts, many of them look quite positive. The Russell, Nasdaq, Dow transports are very close to making new 5 year highs - recovering all of the losses of the 07-09 bear market. The mid caps and Qs have already surpassed these levels. These indexes often lead the market. It is simply not credible to call our current bull market just a bear market rally.

I'm surprised by the number of market types who constantly complain about the bull market. All the arguments - the economy is terrible, massive debt in US and the PIIGS, etc. etc. may be true, but the market does not support them (at least not right now). Why not just run with the bull and make money?

As for current conditions, the overall market looks like it wants to go higher for a couple of months or so. But the end of QE2 looms, and the Venture still lags, so I still think we'll have a major correction in the 3rd quarter.

I've stopped selling, and will increase my exposure to the US market. We may get a dip (buying opportunity) early in the week because we are short term overbought. Because this has a fuse, I'm still going to stick to liquid stocks which can be sold quickly when the time comes. Except for special situations, I'll be avoiding the juniors for now.