It looks like Denninger was monitoring S&P Futures during the Obama speech as noted below...

Regards - VHF

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State of the Union Verdict: BOOOO

Karl Denninger

February 24, 2009

The market's reaction, that is.

A commentator on CNBC, when asked if he was going to buy or short the market at the end of the speech, said "I'm shorting it right now."

Apparently he had his Crackberry with him and was doing it while talking, or he was channeling a lot of other people who were:

Pretty impressive little volume spike, and those sure weren't "buys" that came through on the futures.

There was no real reaction during the speech itself, but as soon as it was over, well, 0.6% isn't massive, but it is what it is, considering that we were essentially flat coming into the speech itself.

What the market was clearly looking for was a clear, concise plan to deal with the mess. I didn't hear that; I heard lots of sizzle ("we'll make sure the banks have enough capital") but no steak, and after Geithner's fumble that's unlikely to be good enough.

Can this be taken as a verdict on the reaction tomorrow? No; that waits for the morning. But it sure is an "instant reaction" to those with futures trading accounts who were watching President Obama's first "State of The Union."

If he was looking to inspire the market, the first-blush read on his success has to be rather simple:

FAIL