The charts on stocks and bonds seem to call for a lower stock market from here. The wild cards are the US Fed and the Eurozone leaders. Remember how bad the markets were in August 2010 and the effect of the QE2 announcement.
This is a great article on what Ben Bernanke might have up his sleeve: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/forget-operation-twist-rosenberg-says-bernanke-about-shock-everyone-what-about-come
I don’t think Chairman Bernanke will announce all of the measures in this article – he needs to keep some spare ammo, but if some of this list is announced the stock and bond markets should respond very favorably. That doesn’t mean the markets won’t worry about Europe and the worldwide slowing economy but you should see a very good move up in response.
I don’t think the Mr. Bernanke will be conservative. It is not his style and it is doubtful that he called for a two-day meeting to keep the status quo or close to it, but if the market is disappointed, look out.
The Fed statement is due at 2:15 Wednesday. CNBC (TW channel 34 in CLT) always carries it live.