Best January for stocks since '97

Well, that's the good news. The not-so-good news is that the month has ended on a sour note, with an unexpected drop in consumer confidence, lower-than-expected results from Amazon (corporate earnings in general have been disappointing), and a still-lousy housing picture. The market, while down the last several sessions, hasn't been down by much - the Dow was off 20 points today, to 12,632. Volume has been low for much of January, which is another indication that there's a lot of money on the sidelines (maybe that explains why all those rich guys are interested in the Dodgers). Also keep in mind that February is usually not a good month for stocks.