AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN) 132.45 $1.94 (1.49%) 11:58AM (15 mins delay)

Having spent the better part of two months humbled by resistance near 950, the S&P finally took the bull by the horns and went on a tear. The pressure had been building and the excuse was that 48 out of 59 major US companies reported earnings before the close ahead of expectations with Ford (F) and 3M (MMM) the star turns. But if you scratch below the surface things are not so rosy. Top-line revenues are not nearly as strong, earnings are still down nearly 25% on a year ago and Microsoft (MSFT) provided a soggy start to after-hours trading. Nonetheless, the top of the old range has finally been breached. Note the Nasdaq 12 day winning streak is its best run since 1992.

With US futures pointing downwards, there may be some impetus for investors to take some chips off the table being a Friday after such a stellar run up. Also, concerns that China may hike reserve requirements more quickly than expected, could see the market worry that this period of strong global liquidity is almost over. Note UPS (who for me a key bellwether of the overall health of the REAL US economy) CFO Kuehn said yesterday “our trends so far in July show no material uptick in growth, we don’t have any confidence that either demand or activity is going to pick up substantially”.