I’ve set aside strongly negative feelings about the U.S. economy and the stock market to focus solely on the charts, which never lie. Trends are trends, and as long as the one in progress continues to exceed prior peaks with each new thrust, the bull must be given the benefit of the doubt. This is quite a stretch for me, since the U.S. housing and auto sectors are imploding, Q1 corporate earnings will go up against unbeatable year-ago numbers, and the next most-powerful economies in the world, China’s and Germany’s, are slipping into recession. Under the circumstances, it’s hard to imagine the stock market making any headway at all, much less achieving new record highs. (See my DJIA tout below.) That is why I have eliminated ‘imagination’ from my brain when pondering the markets.  That’s the next best thing to eliminating the brain itself from the process. Trust me when I say that forecasting stocks is simply not a thinking man’s game. Thinking will only get you into trouble. And if you are very smart, it will get you into a position so far ahead of the crowd that you will doubt yourself, bailing out with big losses at the worst possible time.