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A slightly weaker Dollar and key sponsorship are supporting the green shoots crowd, but disappointing corporate and economic reports are countering the bull elsewhere. As of 11:05 ET the SP-500 (SPY) is off a very mild 0.15% on lower and mixed levels of "Buy, Buy, Buy!" and "Sell, Sell, Sell!" interest.

There's always a bull or bear market somewhere and sometimes there's just an intraday tussle amongst the two camps. And so goes Wednesday's non-humping first half tug-o-war near the unchanged level. Keeping the bears hopeful, CPI prices ran counter to Tuesday's helpful PPI data as a headline increase of 0.3% and core reading of 0.2% each came in one-tenth higher than expected.

Separately, the American Dream is still being put on hold per the latest reports on housing starts and permits. For October, an annualized 529,000 units missed by a wide margin, estimates of 600,000 starts. Permits, which measure future intentions of builders, also disappointed with a reading of 552,000 versus sunnier forecasts of 575,000.

On the corporate confessional side, it's a bit of a mini "tech wreck" for AutoDesk (ADSK) and Salesforce.com (CRM). Shares of ADSK, the uber-cool CAD 3D graphics software shop are off 11.50% after it beat on its top and bottom-lines but issued mixed guidance of Q4 EPS which now falls slightly below views, while estimating in-line results for FY10.

Separately, bulls are pulling out of the green tinted skies of cloud technology specialist Salesforce.com. Shares of CRM are off about 4% near 63 on what bulls can chalk up as "profit-taking." Dashed expectations for an overachieving stock of late and good, but not good enough results look to be in today's driver's seat.

Elsewhere, the seeds continue to get planted for one baby bull market. Both the Mad Money and hedge fund legend George Soros are enjoying the smell of money in Potash (POT) these days it seems. A regulatory filing which managed to slip past the pages of Yahoo Finance and Briefing yesterday noted the latter's increased stake of 1.0 million shares over the quarter and apparently helped prompt a substantial breakout to relative highs within a cup-shaped base.

Related, last night Dr. Cramer pounded the table for the aggies (MOO). Potash was mentioned more than once as "the cheapest" play and once more becomes a dearly held name by the market's favorite after hour's host. For his part, Cramer failed to mention Soros' involvement and was more interested in a small and mostly unnoticed blurb from the Department of Agriculture which raised its crop price outlook due to production shortfalls. Looking at the charts and I'd beg to differ by saying the "mostly unnoticed blurb" was spied by a few bulls.

Nonetheless and according to Cramer, the report from the DofA represents "the inception, the birthing" of a brand new spanking baby bull being born. And while the likes of Potash, Monsanto (MON) and Terra Nitrogen (TNH) were all considered strong bets, the best pure play and in front of next week's earnings is (drum roll please)...Deere & Co. (DE).

Intraday, shares of DE are well out of reach of Cramer's sometimes conveniently forgotten $0.25 chase rule. "Sorry, Cramerica." However, with shares up about 5.50% near 52, technical traders doing their homework have confirmed a double breakout today. Today's thrust has shares of DE moving above four weeks of consolidation which found support off neckline support from a smaller irregular and inverse H&S pattern of six months length.

A larger 13-month inverse H&S and its neckline resistance have also fallen today, triggered by the same consolidation breakout. A conservative measured move of the pattern suggests a price target near $65. With earnings next week on November 25, December options have extra incentive as being the front month in the earnings cycle and a few weeks of contract life after the event.

Most active on that front, the still out-of-money December 55 call has seen more than 4,500 contracts change hands. Priced at $1.17 per contract, bulls are looking at a required move of 10% by expiration. Axing out the time element by 50% and roughly 7.75% is required, although with premiums bid, but not madly so-a volatility rush may help that type of mad money cause.

Chris Tyler
Senior Staff Writer & Options Strategist
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site
Visit Chris Tyler's Forum

The information offered here is based upon Christopher Tyler's observations and strictly intended for educational purposes only, the use of which is the responsibility of the individual.

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