In bull/bear chatter on the stock market, my bull friends are getting increasingly confident. That's a contrairian warning sign to me. We are close to a possible turning point in the markets. My guess is that this would happen after expiration on Friday. My spidey sense is tingling: I see market volatility ahead. Here are my Top Ten Reasons why I don't trust this market right now 1) VIX, a measure of volatility which often moves in opposition to markets, is at a multi-year low. 2) ECRI leading economic indicators down 3 weeks in a row. 3) Increasingly wild and unpredictable action in the dollar. 4) Informal polling of business friends: Not one person says business is much better. 5) Correlations between the S&P, dollar, and gold are breaking down for the first time in many years, interesting a possible change in market dynamics. 6) Several leading technical analysts calling for the top. 7)  Bullish sentiment near multi-year high. 8)  "Things never look as good as they do at the top." 9) Fed running out of money in the printing press division. 10) Chart showing a perfect double-top in a long-term 10-year bear market chop. Of course, I'm just being cautious. I let the market dictate my actions. I reserve the right to change my opinion immediately, especially if the market is able to break out after options expiration this Friday. One reason why the top MAY NOT be coming: 1) The Feds are starting to print more money again because they know the alternative is disaster.

Sometimes America can be myopic, self-centered, and oblivious. Today is one of those days when many of the news outlets are focusing on Twitter, the Toyota recalls, and Taylor Swift. With more chaos brewing in the Middle East, it's a good time to remember that there are some major wars underway. I only say this because these are disturbing times, and we have to be reminded of the fact of the dangers of global political conflicts. Keep it in mind. Let me catch you up to date on what's going on "out there," as well as other stuff:

• Violence in Israel is flaring up again, following the reopening of a synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City (The Guardian).
• The Obama adminstration and Benjamin Netanyahu are headed for a showdown (NPR)
• George Mitchell's Israel trip is on hold (Politico)
• What does it mean for Iran? Well, the eminent bombing rumors that have circulated may be put on hold. (Huffington Post)
• Several folks think Biden's trip to Israel was aimed at discussing the bombing of Iran. Instead, it devolved into a critique of Israel's settlement policies. (Politico)
• The US and EU are calling for a "clear response" to Iran. Some believe that bombing isn't yet off the table. (AFP)
• Iran is standing its ground (Tehran Times)
• Zero Hedge technical take predicts a  market crash in April (Zero Hedge)
• U.S. Housing starts declined 5.9% in February (Bloomberg). Do housing start numbers in the dead of winter really matter?
• The Fed wants to "avoid lower inflation" (Bloomberg). Isn't that another euphemism for printing money?
• U.S. lawmakers are going to press China for action on currency (Reuters). Yippee! Trade War with China! Just what we all need!
• Sony has signed a $250M deal with the Michael Jackson estate on forthcoming albums involving both previously unreleased material and famiar ones. (Wall Street Journal). Just beat it!
• Core Strength Training for Men. (Wall Street Journal). I just think it's funny that you can find this stuff on a Wall Street Journal page.
• Is China-Google a lose-lose scenario? (Associated Press)
• Google's biggest blunder: Not letting Microsoft buy Yahoo (Slate). I can go with it.
• Vitamin D linked to lower heart disease risk (L.A. Times)

Parsing today's news, I see that Twitter has announced a new platform that does some stuff. I wish I could tell you what it was, but the press reports are so vague that I don't understand! For example, VentureBeat reports that "Twitter CEO Ev Willams demonstrated a new platform today that will spread the microblogging network's proifles, tweets, and possibly advertising across the Web." Okay. First, why is the VentureBeat reporter referring to Evan Willams as "Ev." Is this to show they're buddies? Sheesh, amateur hour. Next, what the heck  is this thing? Tweets will be everywhere. Aren't they already? And how are they doing this? Some other takes on the Twitter "news," which I think was announced at the rapidly devolving SXSW (South By Southwest) conference:

• TechCrunch's Michael Arrington is cringing at the fact that Twitter wants to do good. He should.
• Twitter has made some sort of announcement on its blog. "We’ve developed a new set of frameworks for adding this Twitter experience anywhere on the web." ARGHHGHG. Can somebody actually tell me what this thing does!!!
• Ahh, now this is my cup of tea: The Evan Williams keynote actually sucked, and people bailed. (CNET)
• If you want to ask real questions (apparently the interviewer at SXSW didn't), here are some on Twitter itself (Mashable)

Alrighty, Twitter, everybody's talking about you. That's great. Now get on with it and do an IPO, to show that the technology markets can still drive the American economy.