Investors have been giving Congress the benefit of the doubt--until now. A long-promised second tranche of fiscal stimulus was supposed to be passed by the end of the month. The clock is ticking, but the horse-trading has just begun. 

Sometimes, investors are so focused on the trees that they miss the forest entirely. Take the U.S. dollar, for example. It has been declining at an alarming rate, yet no one seems to care.

Investors are caught in a tug of war. On one side are the growing cases of COVID-19 throughout the country. On the other, the expectations that a virus cure, or at least a vaccine, is just around the corner. The market remains in the middle.

In the midst of the worst pandemic since 1917, a new trend of investing has risen on Wall Street. Millions of individuals, forced to shelter in place as COVID-19 scourges across the country, have turned their sites on the stock market for a number of reasons, not all of them good. 

As the COVID-19 virus rages across the nation, Americans are hoping for more assistance from the government on a variety of fronts. So far this month, their hopes have been met with a resounding silence from the White House, although members of Congress are trying to come up with answers that both parties can agree upon. I have a couple of suggestions.

The disparity between rising nationwide virus cases and a rising stock market finally took its toll on investors this week. While damage was sustained to the averages, it was far from a bloodbath. A few more days of the same back and fill would not be a surprise.

The continuing gain in jobs cheered equity markets on Thursday, just before the holiday weekend. Given the surge in virus cases in more than half of the United States at the same time, some investors were dumbfounded. They just don't get it.

It is an interesting time for bank stocks. In the aftermath of two federal regulatory actions last week, the money-center banks are becoming more public than private institutions.