Since last November, the dollar has climbed steadily against a basket of currencies — most notably against the euro. And based on my analysis, I think it’s just the early stages of this trend.

In fact, for many of the reasons I’ve discussed in past Money and Markets columns, the weight of evidence suggests that we’ve likely seen the bottom in the dollar, with a multi-year bull market ahead.

That’s a high level view.

Tough and busy week on my end but it is finally the weekend and today I had an opportunity to get a lot of reading done around the Blogosphere finding a few good articles. The stock picks continue to do well and I will probably be doing a new pick on Monday so stay tuned!

I have noticed over at Seeking Alpha a different tone in comments to my stories starting about a week ago.  The bulls are strikingly confident and almost flippant at any negative comment or selling of almost any stock.  Today has taken it to a new peak, as the "feedback" I am receiving in my email box for my sell of Potash earlier this week is ...

Friday, March 12, 2010
Stocks Poised to Continue Rally; Demand for Risk Weakens Dollar
Retail Sales just came out bullish. Equity markets are soaring. Bonds are breaking. The Dollar is plunging. The market reads this report as good. The key will be to be able to

separate the report from the trade. The question is will U.S. investors chase equity market higher or wait for a pullback? Overall, however, it looks like a strong report.
U.S. equity markets are trading better overnight ahead of this morning’s Retail Sales Report.

A court-appointed examiner said demands from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) for collateral helped to drive Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy. In other news, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE:POT) sharply raised its first-quarter forecast on Thursday, citing a sharp rebound in demand for potash — a key crop nutrient. Shares jumped over 7% before the bell. Also, Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN) on Friday swung to a fourth-quarter profit even as sales fell 3% after it controlled inventory and revamped merchandise to help sell more products at full price.