A Storm Brewing for Equities?

I don't have a lot of time to post today, and no, I'm not forecasting a crash, but I did make mention of a couple things in my last few posts that could throw a monkey-wrench in the works for those who are convinced that the latest Ben Bernanke cash injection makes this a zero risk, stocks-can-only-go-higher market.  One point that I was very clear on, in fact my whole post was on the topic:  it is all about the dollar.  If you aren't keeping track, the dollar has been rising...across most currencies...for pretty much the last 4 or 5 trading sessions.  Yes, I know, 4 up days does not a rally make, but considering how badly the dollar has been trounced for the last 5 months, it bears watching.

The other thing I cautioned everyone on was the situation in Europe, in particular, another blow-up like we saw with Greece earlier in the year.  Well look out, because Ireland is back on the front burner with their sovereign debt spreads now blowing out at a record 700+ basis points to the Bund.  At that level, there are only two possible outcomes - sovereign default, or bailout....and likely within the next 5 trading days.   The Euro has been getting hammered as a result, down about 600 pips since last week against the USD.   Keep an eye on the Ireland situation, and the next domino, Portugal. 

If that wasn't enough, Insider Selling hit an all-time high this past week, as corporate officers and execs exercise their stock options and dump shares worth $4.5 billion...click here for the ZeroHedge piece from earlier today.  To be clear, this alone doesn't mark the top of a market, but I'll leave you with this thought.  If Bernanke's QE2 is really going to make it impossible for stocks to go down, why are CEO's and senior executives cashing in their shares in such quantity instead of riding the wave of supposedly guaranteed profits?  I don't know either, but it's certainly enough to give me pause.  Whatever the case, QE2 officially begins with tomorrow's POMO, $6 - $8 billion in Treasuries on deck, with $110 billion in total to be monetized between now and December 9th.