Boehner stepped forward Thursday with a softer tone on compromise with the administration. Then the president invited all to meeting next week to discuss the fiscal cliff and to seek some compromise. But just a short time ago the WH stated the president will veto any bill that extends existing tax cuts for the wealthy. This is reminiscent of the Simpson-Bowles Commission aftermath when the much awaited report was tossed into the trash can with a “thanks for coming” dismissal.

Now we just have learned CIA Director David Patraeus has resigned over an exta-marital affair. Just after the election—how convenient. He was probably outed by CIA insiders. Things just get curiouser and curiouser.

I would put forward this now, why don’t we just go over the cliff, get it over with and let things get sorted out from the wreckage? It would be tough certainly but we should’ve gone over the cliff by letting the banks fail in 2008-2009 putting it behind us.

Stocks being short-term oversold attempted a rally but there wasn’t much follow-through or conviction behind it. This is due to the lack of any sense of compromise over the fiscal cliff.

Economic data featured the over-rated U. of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report (84.9 vs 81.5 expected). The index is based heavily on stock market prices which carried over from October and I prefer the Conference Board’s data as it isn’t so skewed by markets.

The dollar (UUP) continues to be strong while uniquely gold (GLD) also rises as investors scramble for safe havens. Bonds (TLT) also reversed course from earlier losses as prices rose. Commodities were mildly positive mostly on the strength of energy. As to this, oil (USO) was pressured higher by an admitted Iranian strike on a U.S. drone of which we seem to have so many. Tech (XLK) bounced as Apple (AAPL) shares were able to catch a bid. Semiconductors (SOXX) were also stronger but homebuilders (ITB) were weak.

Volume remains elevated still and breadth per the WSJ was rather flat.

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