The market has been undergoing some end of the quarter window dressing, and it’s nice to see the buying pressure come in on many of the stocks in the IA portfolio.

Last week, the Fed raised key the lending rates, and said that inflationary pressures should be moderating but didn’t rule out any future rate increases.

After a brief run up that could carry us into the middle

Let's mix in a little "bull".

Yesterday, the Federal Open Market Committee raised interest rates a quarter of a point to 5.25%. Many were worried that the release of its statement might contain verbiage that several more rate hikes were to come. That didn't happen and the markets celebrated. Great!

After the 2:15 EST announcement, the Dow added an additional +133 points to its

Many market mavens are expecting the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points. A lot has been made about this being the 17th time the fed has raised rates. I wonder if they would be less dramatic if the fed had raised rates 8 times in half point increments.

In any event, a 50 basis point increase followed by a pause would thicken the plot. I don't think a

We are going to sell 2 of our oil stocks in the IA portfolio. The first is Exxon (XOM $62.09), and the second is Conoco (COP $65.63).

Exxon has clearly been the laggard of the group, and unless I am very wrong, they will never be a buyout target for anyone.

Conoco, has traded in a fairly tight range (buy under $60, sell above $65). During period