This uncertainty about what Microsoft is going to do with the cash has been hanging over the stock for a couple of years. A buyback would be a signal that management is optimistic with the price of its own stock.

The market is building in a risk premium because of the uncertainty surrounding the election -- once we get that out of the way, all other things being equal, the euro will probably bounce.

We're already starting to see valuations get stretched again. It's not unlikely that we can get back close to 1,700 on the Nasdaq, but I don't think that's necessarily justifiable. That's just a function of trading psychology in the short run.

A quicker-than-expected recovery in capital expenditure spending will probably be the biggest catalyst, if one occurs at all.

Valuations remain a little stretched, and we could see some further weakness into the early part of the year.

In spite of the Gateway announcement, there seems to be some firming in demand for PCs and flash memory. Pricing is starting to improve. And for IT services, capacity utilization is finally starting to improve.