market notes

the best performers for 2011 have been utilities and dividend payers in a route. This statistic should surprise noone as excess money looks for places to hide out in an attempt to eek out any return on capitol.Ive read several different articles asking the question "are dividend payers in a bubble?". i've read exactly zero articles that make an attempt to give a conclusive answer to that question, so here we go. A couple of factors suggest to me that that the dividend names are NOT in a bubble. When compared with a 1.9 yield in the 10 year, a utility that gives you 4.5 still looks pretty attractive.secondly, One of most important elements in a "bubble" is when we see a ton of leverage being used to buy an asset, as of yet i've seen nothing like that. I do, however, think that we have to be more creative in picking the proper names going into 2012 and thats why i am looking at clx(as it has not participated in the rally)...i've made alot of money in so,and mo in 2011 but those charts look like they are reaching a bit and might be due to correct. The broader market picture seems relatively straight forward. the sph2 is in a triangle consolidation pattern that should keep it between 1200 and 1252, it doesnt feel like it has the ambition to knock us out of the range yet, but that will change in the early part of 2011. My gut says we break out to the upside but i am not married to that quite yet. Keep an eye on the aussie and canadian dollars as they are in similar patterns but might break out first...comments are welcome...thanks jim