Let’s get right into the pop culture – name that 1970 band that recorded the title to this blog post.br /br /Anyway, ball of confusion, that’s what the world is today. Go ahead, check the day to day reports in the financial media and hum along. Stocks rallied despite rising oil. Record high prices set stocks back. Stocks stage comeback as oil hits yet another record.br /br /While I may be paraphrasing, this is exactly the sequence of daily news reports we saw this week. Listen people, there is no correlation between oil and stocks. Yes, rising oil leads to inflation which kills the economy but if you are looking for a reason for what stocks do on any given day this ain’t it. Journalists have to write something so they latch on to anything that any of their sources say that sounds good.br /br /Confusion.br /br /Hey, what happened to gold? Everyone was writing it off as the “bubble” burst on commodities but guess what?br /br /And oil? The fundies say we are once again swimming in the stuff yet the price sets six new daily highs in four trading days. OK, I exaggerated but you get the point.br /br /Interest rates? Wasn’t a weakening Europe supposed to get them to cut rates over there? Not today, pal. They are worried about inflation, as they should be. Perhaps my call for a higher dollar later in the year was premature.br /br /What’s going on? (Dang, another 1970s pop song reference by…..you tell me). Don’t let anyone tell you they know the full story. All I know is that the charts are telling me something is happening and that it is probably not a good idea to take out a loan to buy that big screen TV.