Unconventional Fed Measure to Drive Another Fall Rally?

On Wednesday, investors were struggling to game the market’s next big move with tech shares falling on Wednesday after Dell's disappointing sales outlook fanned worries weak economic growth will hurt earnings in the third quarter.

Both the Dow and S&Pended little changed however they both swung higher and lower in an up-and-down session where investors sold growth sectors in favor of defensive shares like telecoms and utilities.

Market action lately has been tethered to worries that the economy may slide into recession. However, if you're running for the hills, CNBC contributor Ron Insana suggests you've got it all wrong.

He's looking for gains into year's end. If you have a time horizon of a couple months or more Insana thinks the play is positioning for a fall rally. He concedes there’s a chance we first test the August lows but Insana also thinks the Fed will come up with more unconventional policy measures and introduce them again at Jackson Hole.

Specifically he's hearing "the Fed may move to anchor the long-term interest rates. The message in the long-end of the bond market is that the Fed is probably going to step in and buy long-dated maturities and hold the entire curve down to get money flooding into the system."

Insana thinks we might be looking at a situation much like the end of last August when the stock market took off, right after Jackson Hole.

Trader Joe Terranova is also bullish too and says the fundamentals tell the story. He points to the earnings season which he calls "robust" and considers results as confirmation that the market is trading on fear and not fundamentals.

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S&P 500 earnings Scorecard (w/ 94% reported so far)
-Sales & Earnings +12% from prior year
-Average earnings beat by 6.5%
-Average revenue beat by 3%
Source: Thomson Reuters

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Tim Seymour is skeptical. He believes that the weakness Dell talked about may be a sign that shows the economy is entering a rough patch. “I think we’re going to retest the lows,” he says.

Guy Adami is also looking for another down move and thinks 1200 will be a point of strong resistance for some time to come. I think the (strength) in the bond market is trying to tell you something,” he says. “Yield continues to fall. I think the market wants to push lower.”




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Trader disclosure: On Aug 17, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; Seymour owns (AAPL); Seymour owns (BAC); Adami Owns (AGU); Adami Owns (C); Adami Owns (GS); Adami Owns (INTC); Adami Owns (MSFT); Adami Owns (NUE); Adami Owns (BTU); Finerman owns (AAPL); Finerman owns (BAC); Finerman owns (JPM); Terranova owns (XOM); Terranova owns (CVI); Terranova owns (CAT); Terranova owns (OXY); Terranova owns (AAPL); Terranova owns (DAR); Terranova owns (FCX); Terranova owns (CACI); Terranova owns (ARUN); Terranova owns (ORCL); Terranova owns (EMC); Terranova owns (NCR); Terranova owns (VMW); Terranova owns (IBM); Terranova owns (AMZN); Terranova owns (LULU); Terranova owns (LTD); Terranova owns (WFM); Terranova owns (JPM); Terranova owns (AXP); Terranova owns (FXA); Terranova owns (VRTS); Terranova owns (LQD); Stutland Owns (DBA) and short (DBA) calls; Stutland Owns (GLD) calls

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