14 but may spike to just below four-dollars a gallon by spring let's get our day started with ben lichtenstein of traders audio good morning ben! >>good morning. >>new record highs in the market yesterday. what's all the fuss about? >>well, higher highs and higher lows for the most part. i think it's just a continuation of the pattern that we have been seeing in this holiday market. it's been kind of a thin trade but you have to give it to the bulls. again, conviction to the upside. basically zero in terms of any real pullback and zero in terms of any real rejection. we saw the jobless claims come in a little bit lower than expected but for the most part that wasn't the real catalyst. we saw some divergent type activity developing throughout the day. the nasdaq just didn't want to partcipate. the russell spent most of the day in range. the russell wasn't exhibiting the type of energy yesterday that we saw in the major markets. but for the most part, it's just this continuation of the pattern. it's this euphoric type pattern that we have been seeing. the market recently went into vertical devel

ben lichtenstein of traders audio is here. good morning to you. now that we're in the christmas spirit, what will be the christmas trade this week? >>it seems that the santa rally has come a bit late. it took a bit of prodding from one of his helpers, fed chairman ben bernanke. last week we saw that big come into the market to close the week out. it was in reaction to wednesday's fed announcement and the question and answer session afterwards. the mindset of traders is just status quo. this is not over until the fat lady sings and for the most part we haven't even really heard her warming up her voice yet. i think this was a bit of a relief rally. i think there was a lot of uncertainty in terms of the taper---when, how much, and how often, or when it would start. i think that the investors and traders alike really got a little bit of information. just enough to relieve some of the uncertainty. the market tends to love that and that's really what we're seeing last week. closing the week out strong. >>turning now to the economy, gdp coming in at a s

ben lichtenstein of traders audio joins us on this friday. ben, good to have you back on the show. there was positive news yesterday from the retail sector but a negative response in the stock market. what was going on ben? >>well, it was a bit unusual. i think there was a couple of factors at play. first of all, keep in mind that retail sales ---better than expected results was limited. i think it was like 1 10th of a percentage better than consensus levels. i think it was up a bit but limited in terms of any real fuel for the market. there's a lot of concern out there about tapering. in addition to that we have a lot of activity developing here throughout the pit as we roll out of the december contract which will expire next thurday and the march contract became the front month today so a lot of focus has shifted to the spreads and to the outrights. and on a day like yesterday what i look for is really the larger broader based representation of the market and for that i look to the russell. and if you looked at yesterday's trading activity throughout the day's session trade you s