Next week, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other institutions should begin returning to the markets, and traders will quickly find out whether or not the extremely light volume holiday gains are sustainable in the short term.

The US has been following the Japanese now for two years.

The stock market indices managed to squeeze some minor gains at the end of the day to close higher, after a late rush put the indices right near the session highs on the blue chip indices.

Download Adrian Manz's Around The Horn Intraday Trading Plan PDF for December 30.

Dr. Adrian Manz analyzes the major markets, stock sectors, and individual stocks for December 30.

Dave Landry takes a one-minute look at the stock market in his video for December 30.

Volume has been light this week and has a good chance of declining even further today. Any recent moves in either direction could be easily undone when institutions begin returning to the markets next week.

Japan's top man shocked the nation last week when he announced the largest budget deficit ever.

The stock market indices were choppy all day. They opened strong, retested the highs, couldn’t get through, tried again, but still couldn’t get through 1130 on the S&P 500, which now has formed a 2-day triple-top there, and pulled back in the morning.

Mike Paulenoff writes that JP Morgan (JPM) has been treading water for the past few sessions.