Turnaround Tuesday on Fiscal Cliff Comments from Boehner, Obama

Stocks careened lower at the open, with the Dow down more than 100 points on data that showed the number of new homes being built (maybe a shovel in the ground somewhere) slowing to an annual pace of 368,000, well below the estimate.

Shortly thereafter, House Majority leader, John Boehner, emerged from a brief meeting with some wall Street corporate CEOs and said something to the effect that the Democrats need to get serious about solving the issues of the fiscal cliff.

Around noon, President Obama came out and delivered some equally algo-soothing words, sending the market even higher. While neither man said anything specific or anything which could even remotely be construed as closing in on a deal, Wall Street computers took their words as a cue to buy, enough for a 200-point move on the Dow, something that hasn't happened in over a year's time.

We certainly are playing in interesting times. A politician moves his or her lips and markets respond. How perfectly Pavlovian.

Gold and silver were inexplicably down sharply, but not to worry. Tomorrow or the next day, markets will begin to respond to celebrity raised eyebrows, the body language of sports stars and maybe even dog scratching.

Besides, according to the Incan calendar, the world will reverse polarity on the 22nd of December, and instead of a fiscal cliff, we'll have a monetary waterfall, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, of course, fixing everything for eternity, or at least until the next election.

Dow 12,985.11, +106.98(0.83%)
NASDAQ 2,991.78, +23.99(0.81%)
S&P 500 1,409.93, +10.99(0.79%)
NYSE Composite 8,207.36, +56.57 (0.69%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,726,631,875
NYSE Volume 3,324,916,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3606-1863
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 122-54
WTI crude oil: 86.49, -0.69
Gold: 1,716.50, -25.80
Silver: 33.68, -0.297