Friday , March 4th * We continue to see buying interest in stocks, particularly among smaller and midcap names, but it's the absence of selling pressure that's particularly notable. We have been getting few highly negative NYSE TICK readings and that is creating relatively modest pullbacks. Meanwhile, breadth continues to expand, as the chart of stocks making fresh three-month highs versus lows illustrates: * I notice both equity and index put/call ratios have come down, if we look across all issues and all exchanges. This by itself doesn't create a sell signal, but it's an early sign of the kind of bullishness that typically leads to a market peak. Volume and volatility also continue to come down, with VIX closing below 17. Note in the chart above how we took out lows from last year, only to now return into the year's range. I would not be surprised to see an eventual test of the highs of that range, given the considerable momentum thrust...