Good afternoon, everybody. How was your Wednesday? For the market it was uneventful, which is why we don't have a lot to say about it today. We certainly have something to say about a handful of specific stocks, however. Let's start with a quick look at today's chart of the S&P 500, since that'll take the least amount of time and space. Still On the Fence You know, although I expected yesterday's wild swings (in both directions) to spur a little more action today, I can't say I'm particularly surprised Wednesday's session was a dud. While traders want things to get moving, it's pretty clear nobody actually has enough gumption to get things going... up, or down. Yes, the S&P 500 inched a tad higher, and the NASDAQ was up about 0.5% today. The Dow counter-acted the progress the other indices made though, so I'm still thinking stocks - as a whole - could go either way. Until the S&P 500 makes a couple of consecutively-lower closes under the 20-day moving average line at 1828 or breaks above the newly-developed ceiling at 1849, nobody's going to jump in with both feet. Take a look. Usually I have at least some sort of opinion about the market's undertow, even when stocks are trapped like they are now. In the current situation, however, making a bullish or bearish call is little more than a coin toss. The good news is, I still believe the breakout or a breakdown is going to happen soon. So, be sure to keep reading every day. From Around the Web... Once again I find I have more to say to you than I have room or time to do it in. So, like the last time I stumbled across a plethora of thought-provoking commentaries on the web, I'm just going to give you the link and follow it up with my food for thought. Let's begin with the most divisive of today's hot buttons - Carl Icahn. If you've been around the markets to any degree at all since the middle of last year, then you already know Icahn has been scooping up Apple (AAPL) shares on a pretty regular basis, doing his best the whole time to induce the company to give back its $146 billion cash-stash to shareholders. He's had some success too. Apple is in the midst of a $60 billion buyback as part of a plan to one way or another give $100 billion back to shareholders. Yet, Icahn is still grumbling, saying recently "What bothers me a hell of a lot..., is cash of a $150 billion just sitting there doing nothing. And not to use it to do a huge buyback, is sort of disgraceful." You know, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Everyone's even entitled to vocalize that opinion. For the life of me though, I can't figure out what he's griping about now. The only thing I can assume is that he wants the other $50 billion that wasn't pledged as part of the distribution to be doled out in the form of one huge dividend, payable tomorrow. Well Mr. Icahn, here's a reality check... you're not the only owner of Apple, and most of the rest of the owners want Apple to keep some of that cash for a rainy day or for a major acquisition. If you don't like it, fine - don't invest in it. If you're so worried Apple's not going to do what you want though, why are you still buying shares? The other big story I thought was interesting today was Mark Hulbert's explanation of how gold could fall to only $831 per ounce IF the yield on 10-year treasuries rises to 4.0%, up from the current rate of 2.8%. Now, I'm not saying I agree with the target, but I do agree with the premise Hulbert is explaining. Since gold's value and interest rates are (broadly) inversely correlated - AND since interest rates remain on the rise - gold's bound to keep feeling pressure. My beef with Claude Erb's relationship predicting an interest rate of 4% will in turn mean gold falls to $831 per ounce is that it doesn't factor in inflation. The last time interest rates on 10-year treasuries were at 4.0% (or better) was in 2007. But, all other things being equal, the never-ending increase in the price of goods and the ongoing increase in the buying power of gold means a true apples-to-apples comparison is impossible to pin down. The fact that gold is over-traded as a speculative instrument only exacerbates the pricing problem. Still, he makes a good point... gold's vulnerable because there's room and reason for yields to keep rising. What I thought may have been a better model for gold's price was the snippet right at the end of Hulbert's write-up. It was there he pointed out that compared to the United States' consumer price index (which is inherently adjusted for inflation), gold is currently valued at a ratio of at 5.3/1.0, versus the long-term normal ratio of 3.4/1.0. By that line of reasoning, gold is overvalued by about 50%, which would put it back around $600 per ounce when it normalizes. I don't know that it's going to sink that far, but I still contend gold's got more working against it than for it. The consumer price index is just another reason. By the way, my ultimate target for gold is still around $1050 per ounce. ...and From the Site It wasn't just other sites and sources that gave investors some good stuff on Wednesday. The SmallCap Network's regulars were penning their usual quality commentaries today as well. John Udovich had a couple of takes you'll want to see for yourself. One of them was a look at propane stocks. Maybe you heard the cold snap that blew through most of the U.S. this week - and is still blowing - caused a surge in propane usage? Now suppliers are scrambling to meet demand, which puts them in a great position. John takes a closer look at the situation and who could benefit from it. The other article John Udovich gave us on Wednesday was some color on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) after it posted last quarter's earnings. The stock tanked 12%, but John answers some key post-plunge questions. Finally, though it may not matter to most of you, James Brumley made a great observation about Cadiz (CDZI) today. It may be time to get out while the getting's good. He explains why here. That's it for today, folks. Let's regroup on Thursday and see if this market's actually ready to go anywhere.