• Thanks for reading.

I am leaving early to finish up a management call.

Thanks for reading my diary and enjoy your evening.

• Bonds low, stocks high.

Bonds are on the day's low now.

Stocks on the day's high now.

• Postmortem.

The March FOMC meeting minutes are being taken as dovish by the markets.

Both stocks and bonds have rallied, while the U.S. dollar has weakened.

The minutes, however, are not more dovish than the previous FOMC statement that was released on March 19.

Apparently, market participants are focusing on the commentary of some of the Fed officials who have said that the fed funds forecasts overstated the likely rise in rates. This, when combined with some references to China's slowing economic growth rate (which has constrained commodity prices), has produced what I view as an exaggerated response.

Since there is nothing new here from March 19, I am using this strength to reestablish short positions.

Here is Peter Boockvar's take:

In what is again a noisy set of minutes from the FOMC and can be viewed as a war of words between the doves and the few hawks, some are saying basically don't listen much to our forecasts while others are saying please do. On the whole discussion of when to move the fed funds rate, we saw the forecasts three weeks ago in a dot chart that laid out the time frame of expected hikes. In the camp of likely doves, "A number of participants noted the overall upward shift since December in participants' projections of the fed funds rate included in the March projections, with some expressing some concern that this could be misconstrued as indicating a move by the Committee to a less accommodative reactive function. However, several participants noted that the increase in the median projection overstated the shift in the projections." On the other hand from others, "a number of participants observed that the upward shift was arguably warranted by the improvement in participants' outlooks for the labor market since December and therefore need not be viewed as signifying a less accommodative reaction function." Some just don't want to give up easy money while others are saying in essence that after all these years, it is time. It's also a battle of semantics that market participants should watch but not pay much attention to right now because it's not a factor until 2015 and we still have $660b of QE at an annualized run rate to unwind. As I said this morning, first things first.

In terms of the economic and inflation outlook, even with the weather influence, the FOMC minutes showed economic projections that "were quite similar to its forecasts presented at the December meeting" with real GDP growth and the unemployment rate over the next few years just slightly lower. This was laid out in the FOMC statement 3 weeks ago. "The expected path of the federal funds rate was little changed"prior to this meeting. That has obviously changed somewhat since and markets we know got worked up about it. Some on the Committee were obviously worried about this, while others were not. Lastly and likely from the Fisher and Plosser camp, financial stability was specifically mentioned and how it "could become a concern." Tight credit spreads, high margin debt and equity valuations and the recent rise in commodity prices were cited as risks. Also, "another participant stressed the growth in consumer credit to less creditworthy households."

• Baking powder?

My brain hurts on this one!

• I have just moved back to a 5% net short exposure.

• Taking the high road is always preferable, Rev.

I want to take strong personal issue with Rev Shark's comments about Dennis Gartman being a contrary indicator on certain asset classes (Note: Rev used the examples of his recent wrong-sided calls on gold and equities.)

To me, there is nothing worse than referencing or attacking others who make investment boners and emphasizing the misfortunes, mistakes and failures of others.

Schadenfreude -- the joy of seeing others fail -- is too often a mainstay in the investment business. I see it every day on Twitter, and I find it to be a most unattractive trait.

We all have our share of mistakes in this business, and being in the public arena, those mistakes are often well publicized (whether on CNBC, Bloomberg, in market letters and/or on the pages of TheStreet and Real Money Pro).

I certainly have had many first-hand experiences of numerous misguided investments and trades that I have disclosed in my diary and elsewhere in the business media.

As I have always written, it is (in part) how you manage risk and control your portfolio's losses of your poor investment and trading decisions that allow one to differentiate oneself from the average investor/trader.

Being successful in the investment business is not about batting averages at all; it is about letting your winners run and stopping your losses.

The reality is that, over time, Dennis Gartman has had more than his share of successes, and he operates a most successful investment letter -- perhaps one of the best extant.

From my perch, it is far more value-added for all of us to concentrate on our own ideas and less on the failures of others.

Even though Rev's approach is technical and mine is fundamentally based, Rev Shark is well aware of how highly I respect his body of work. And he knows how much esteem I have for him regarding what he has overcome as a person.

Taking the high road is always preferable, Rev.

• Wharton professors offer GM's Mary Barra some advice.

Under the weight of a large recall, high dealer inventories and a Morgan Stanley downgrade (today) General Motors (GM) shares have been depressed.

Here is some advice to Mary Barra offered by the professors at Wharton on Knowledge@Wharton.

• The 10-year U.S. note auction today was mediocre.

• I am back short Tesla (TSLA).

• Midday musings from Sir Arthur Cashin.

Picture remains a bit murky. The Dow and S&P clearly failed to take out Monday's high (as mentioned in Comments).  The Nasdaq made it higher but only marginally so.

The morning softness in the dollar, gold and U.S. treasuries suggest that any geo-political concerns fail to inspire a search for safety.

If the bulls make a second effort, Monday's high in the S&P was 1865/1866 and in the Dow it's 16413/16415.

• Insider selling in tech stocks has been conspicuous.  

• Here is what I see in institutional trading flows today.

Buyers are dominating the trading scene, but a lot of that buying appears to be short covering.

I am seeing a rotation into growth-oriented, high-beta names and out of value stocks this morning. 

Buying is in oil and gas services, pharma, biotech, media, broadcasters, Internet, software, gaming, hotels, industrial suppliers, aerospace and defense and REITs.

Selling is in utilities, telecom, semiconductors, retailers, autos and parts, banks and insurers.

• Expanding this short at $86.75.

I am expanding my PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) short on a scale beginning at $86.75 now.

• I am back net short now.

• Scaled in on strength.

I have scaled back into a PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) short this morning on strength.

• The only thing keeping me from being aggressive on the name is my negative view of the broader markets.

Monitise (MONI.L/MONIF) continues to be under assault.

I added at $1.05 yesterday, and I plan to scale into more at these prices.

The only thing keeping me from being aggressive on the name is my negative view of the broader markets.

• A new Kass Katch on the long side.

Stay tuned for a new Kass Katch on the long side.

Dotting my i's and crossing my t's now.

• GM downgraded at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley has downgraded General Motors (GM) from Hold to Sell this morning.

I agree with Jim "El Capitan" Cramer that this will prove to be a wrong-sided move.

• Here is his morning commentary.

The gospel according to Peter Boockvar:

It was July 26th 2012 when ECB President Mario Draghi said "Within our mandate the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro and believe me, it will be enough." The day before the 10 yr yield in Greece was 27.63%. Today it's at 6.05% and Greece will try to sell about 2b euros of 5 year paper tomorrow at a yield likely around 5.35%. This would be the first time since 2010 that Greece will publicly sell debt and they have a credit rating of B- from S&P and Caa3 from Moody's. The yield of 5.3-5.4% compares with the US high yield KDP index which has a yield of 5.25%, only about 40 bps from a record low. Greece has a debt to GDP ratio of about 175% with 5 yr CDS priced at around the level of Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon in the 400 bps range. The power of central banks, with both their actual weapon of altering policy and mostly with the ECB in using just words, is on full display with Greece's debt deal and the enormous demand for yield.

The only data point of note overseas was the German export figure which fell 1.3% m/o/m, weaker than expectations of a drop of .5% but comes after a 2% rise in January. The number was released pre market and the DAX is lagging to the upside in Europe this morning. Japan was the lone laggard in Asia due to the huge rip higher in the yen yesterday. Chinese stocks continue to trade well and the Indian Sensex index closed at another record high on hopes for a Modi win.

In the US, the MBA said refi applications fell 4.9% w/o/w to the lowest level since 2008 not including the seasonal decline around year end. Positively though, purchase applications were up for a 4th week, by 2.7% w/o/w to the best level since January. While this data is seasonally adjusted, it's not well done and we usually get an uptick in purchases in the Spring. In terms of US stock market sentiment, the recent market turbulence was not alarming at all to the Bulls as they rose to 54.6 from 50.5 and back to the level of two weeks ago of 54.7 while Bears remained unchanged and in hiding at 18.6. Also, those expecting a Correction fell to the lowest level since early January. An overall reading like this from strictly a contrarian standpoint says that this correction in the market is not over. The FOMC minutes from the March meeting will be released at 2pm and while everyone will obsess about when the Fed may raise the fed funds rate, there is still $660b at an annualized run rate of QE that they need to end first. First things first.

• I start the day in a market-neutral mode.

Yesterday's U.S. stock market rally has carried over into the international stock markets.

Aside from Japan, most Asian and European markets are in the green this morning.

Our futures are up modestly as I write. 

Alcoa (AA) kicked off the earnings season with little in the way of surprise (worse top line, better bottom line).

Developing consensus appears to be that the market is range-bound in the near term, with the S&P 500 contained at 1840 on the low side and 1880 on the upside.

The Fed minutes take center stage this afternoon. I don't see much in the way of surprises from Fed policy -- our Fed seems to be among the most certain of policy vis-à-vis the other central banks.

The baseline expectation is a wind up of bond purchases by year-end and the commencement of rate hikes around midyear 2015.

I start the day in a market-neutral mode, excluding my short bond position.

• I am convinced that 2014 will be a transition year.

I am more convinced than ever that the only certainty in the investment outlook for 2014 is the lack of certainty.

It is for this reason that I have suggested that most traders and investors have outsized cash positions and why I prefer trading opportunistically compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.

I am also convinced that 2014 will be a transition year during which investors begin to consider the potential adverse consequences of higher interest rates on economic growth and valuations.

The key issues for investors to consider are: how long rates can stay low; what it means that they are staying low; and what happens to equities if they start rising. If interest rates are a coiled spring that pops higher rather than one that slowly unwinds -- equity markets are unlikely to react calmly.

Regardless, policy suppression of interest rates may be setting us up for much higher volatility across many assets classes.

The weakness in equities on Friday and Monday might be a hint that there is a change is in the air.