Take a look at some of Thursday's midday movers:

Sempra Energy (SRE) was the worst performer on the S&P 500 after the energy company lowered the top end of its guidance for 2013 and offered a weak outlook for 2014.

Shares of software game maker Electronic Arts trended higher. A Morningstar analyst suggested that improved functionality of Microsoft's Xbox One may benefit makers of sports games. Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target on Electronic Arts to $26 from $22.

Have two Pandora's Boxes been opened? Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may have opened the first one. No matter that it is highly unlikely economic data will come in showing sufficient strong and sustained growth to justify tapering bond purchases any time soon — markets see it differently.

The bond market is wound so tight that even raising the remote possibility of ending tapering of bond purchases has thrown prices into a tizzy.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Thursday:

Hormel Foods — Hormel earned 46 cents per share for its second quarter, three cents below estimates, with revenues also short of consensus. The food producer was impacted by weakness in the Jennie-O Turkey segment, as well as lower profit margins and higher overhead costs.

Hewlett-Packard — HP reported fiscal second quarter profit of 87 cents per share, excluding certain items, six cents above estimates. Revenues were short of consensus forecasts, but HP raised its full year guidance above analyst projections. The computer maker is having some success increasing its sales of enterprise computing services.

Volatile trading in stocks and bonds could continue as investors sort out what's going on with the Fed and whether markets have come to some sort of inflection point.

That makes every bit of economic data even more important, since the Fed has made clear its path will be determined by the progress of the economy, and employment in particular.

(Read More: Pisani: Traders Overreact to Bernanke's Testimony)

Thursday's reports include weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET; U.S. manufacturing PMI at 8:58 a.m..; FHFA home prices at 9: a.m. and new home sales at 10 a.m. U.S. markets will also be watching PMI data for China and the euro zone.

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Wednesday:

Traders chase both sides of Fed debate.

Is this a signature day for the markets? Not clear yet, but a couple data points: 1) heavy volume, 2) spike in volatility, and 3) a key paragraph from the FOMC Minutes:

"A number of participants expressed willingness to adjust the flow of purchases downward as early as the June meeting if the economic information received by that time showed evidence of sufficiently strong and sustained growth; however, views differed about what evidence would be necessary and the likelihood of that outcome."

Uh-oh...they mentioned a June meeting! It's over! Aargh!

Hold on: "views differed about what evidence would be necessary and the likelihood of that outcome."

They can't even agree on what evidence would be sufficient for them to begin tapering! With the voting members heavily weighted toward doves, does anyone think the Fed is going to taper in June? Anyone? I didn't think so.

In my informal, unscientific surveys of traders, only about 25 percent of the traders I talk to believe the Fed might begin tapering by September; the majority believe they will not do so until 2014.

They could be wrong, but unless we see Nonfarm Payrolls over, say, 250,000 for the next three months, I too think it is unlikely the Fed starts tapering in the next few months.

Instead of asking, "Why did we drop midday?," let me turn this around and ask, "Why did the Dow move up 150 points right after the Bernanke testimony--why were we up in the first place, given that Bernanke was very balanced?"

The answer is, traders are chasing both sides of the story.

The guys who believe the economy is weak--and that the Fed will not move before 2014--point to comments from the Fed minutes like, "Many on FOMC Wanted to Wait for Stronger Data Before Tapering," or "Many on FOMC Said More Progress Needed Before Slowing QE Pace."

Note the phrase, "many."

But many are now trying to position themselves hawkishly and are trying to drag the market in their direction.

Finally, several have asked why the market sold off at 1:00 p.m. ET--an hour before the Fed minutes. Silly theories that "someone knew something" aside (please), news of a police officer being killed--and hacked to death--in London--along with disturbing video of one of the apparent killers with blood-soaked hands--may have been a factor in the markets drop.

Take a look at some of Wednesday's midday movers:

Stocks were boosted by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's Congressional testimony about the economy and monetary policy, but came off highs as he discussed when the Fed might start paring back on its bond buying program.

Nine of the ten large-cap S&P 500 sectors were in the green at midday. Health care was the best performer, while utilities dipped into the red.

Trading in stocks and bonds was highly volatile after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke discussed how the central bank might wind down its monetary easing policy, and Fed minutes later showed a group of Fed officials were ready to move ahead with paring back.

Stocks and bonds both were both lower in late trading, after initially rallying hard Wednesday on the Fed chairman's initial testimony before Congress, which the markets took as a sign that "tapering" of the Fed's $85 billion a month bond purchase program was off the table for now. Discussions about tapering have been fanned by hawkish Fed officials who have said they believe paring back the program should happen sooner rather than later, and in one case as early as June.

But when Bernanke was questioned by the Joint Economic Committee on specifics of the timing of tapering, the markets did a double take, with stocks moving well off their highs and Treasurys selling off. The Dow sank 100 points, and the 10-year Treasury yield snapped above 2 percent, its highest level since March. Gold was trading down nearly $8 at $1369 at midday, but it too had been jolted higher by Bernanke's initial comments, rising to $1413.

SolarCity, with its shares up more than 50 percent in a little more than a week, may go down as the poster child of the sizzling market for this round of nuttiness for solar stocks.

Yet, as Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov is quick to point out, the market gains are after mixed first quarter results and second quarter guidance "that was definitely on the soft side, leading us to cut estimates for the second time this year."

Oh, and by the way, in less than 20 days, 60 million SolarCity shares, restricted since the company's IPO six months ago, will get unlocked, Molchanov said. If the stock continues the way it has been, he added, "this thing can go off the rails."

What's behind the latest super solar flare? Molchanov believes the current run in the likes of SolarCity, SunPower and Trina Solar "is, quite simply, an exceptionally violent short squeeze." Molchanov has been acutely candid in his assessment of the solar sector, recently calling out what he believes is accounting gimmickry at another solar company, First Solar, during an appearance on CNBC's Fast Money.

Molchanov goes out of his way in a report to say how much he likes SolarCity, the company. But he rates it a hold, noting that "for a textbook story stock like this, valuation does not always matter—at least not in the context of a broader market that is setting new highs virtually every day." But he also believes its current value "will be very difficult to sustain in a more rational market environment."

(Read More: The Solar Power Paradox: Boom, Bust or Both?)

One other thing, in a report on Tuesday, Molchanov said his checks with the solar distribution channel do not support the "boom times" solar stocks are suggesting.

Notably, he was struck by a conversation he had with a private Chinese solar manufacturer. (Historically, I've found that private companies can be excellent reality checks on public companies because they don't have a stock to hype or support.)

"Needless to say," Molchanov wrote, "they are as baffled as we are by some of the irrational exuberance in the share prices of their publicly-traded competitors."

My take is that we've seen this before. These irrational moves are occurring in sectors throughout the market, as the undercurrent fueled by low interest rates continues.

Traders overreact to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments. Mr. Bernanke, in his Q and A, essentially reiterated what New York Fed President William Dudley said yesterday: that any change in the flow of bond purchases will depend on the incoming data.

A question about whether the Fed might reduce bond purchases before Labor Day elicited the same reply: the Fed could reduce bond purchases in the next few meetings if the data supported it.

But stocks immediately came off their highs, bonds dropped on the comment. This seems to have been interpreted to mean there was some kind of imminent end to purchases was occurring.

Dudley warned yesterday that there was a real risk of the markets overreacting to any talk of tightening. Here is a good example of this.

Dudley also said it will take three or four months before the Fed will know if the economy is strong enough for it to begin tapering its purchases of bonds.

Most traders believe that the chances of June tapering is zero, with only a minority that something will happen in the July 30-31 meeting. Some believe the chances are higher for the September meeting, but most still think the data will likely remain weak and the Fed will not move until 2014.

If you don't think this is hard to parse, consider the two different headlines, this from Barron's: "Bernanke Doesn't Rule Out Fed Taper In the Next Few Months"; and this one at the same time from Reuters: "Bernanke Offers No Hint of Pullback in Fed Stimulus." Finally, this from AP: "Stocks Surge as Bernanke Retains Dovish Tone".

Why is this hysterical parsing happening? Because markets are now so dependent on central bank support, because organic growth is so lackluster, that any hint of premature withdraw of stimulus creates a knee-jerk reaction.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to get used to this. We're all parsing commas now, for every Fed official, into the foreseeable future.