Bonds opened with a negative bias and are now flat.  Stocks are better today.  The economic news today was generally better than expected.  The December Empire (NY) Manufacturing Index came in at 9.53 vs expectations of a 3.0 reading.  The December Philadelphia Fed business conditions index came in at 10.3 vs expectations for a 4.5 reading.  Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended 12/10 came in at 366,000 which was better than the 390,000 expected.  The only negative news was November Industrial Production which came in down .2% vs expectations for an up .2% reading.