US markets have broken out of their 2 month consolidation patterns but Canadian markets have not. It could be just a lag in time, since US markets started the consolidation 3 weeks before Canadian markets. More likely, it's a function of the plunge in the US dollar. Priced in loonies, the US markets have not broken out, but are still very much in consolidation mode. My US portfolio is doing well, but the currency losses have killed much of the gains this year. It's hard to be a Canadian investor these days.

It seems to be all about the dollar. The US mid caps, Russell 2000, transports, Nasdaq have all bested their 2007 pre-bear market highs (all-time highs for all except the Nasdaq). But not when priced in most other currencies. It feels like markets are just feeding off the USD.

Most market charts look positive right now, and we probably won't start a major correction for at least a month, but I'm keeping some cash on hand just in case. The dramatic underperformance of the PM stocks bothers me. Maybe they are just lagging in time, but it's possible they sense an impending bounce in the USD, which would cause a pullback in the metals. If this does happen, it would create a nice buying opportunity.