High beta stocks continue to take a beating; I continue to believe this is a canary in a coal mine (have I used that term enough the past 48 hours?)
The bulls
Pulling out my Doug Kass hat, we are destined for fireworks sooner rather than later. Complacency is overbought. Further, if current pace continues in oil prices, many Americans will be frozen stiff as they enjoy their 'staycations' (since $3.50 gasoline is going to be an issue) in about 3 months, especially in the northeast where heating oil rather than nat gas is still prevalent. On the plus side, I suppose that would reduce weekly unemployment claims; always a silver lining.
Remember, $3.50 gas and $125 oil will be 'success' in the world of Ben Bernanke. To the frozen former middle class? Not so much.
p.s. speaking of restaurants, as the economic recovery expands and blossoms, food stamp usage just hit a new record. However, I only post about it when it reaches new "super cool" levels ... the next will be 1 in 7 Americans on food stamps. [Nov 29, 2009: 1 in 4 Children, and 1 in 8 Americans Now on Food Stamps] Not quite there but in the past 11 months we are getting very close [fingers crossed!] I expect sometime in early 2011 we will have reached the next level and we can then begin the journey to 1 in 6. Of course due to the "wealth effect" the Fed is engineering, all these people need to do is put their food stamp debit cards into their Etrade account and buy some Netflix stock and they too can join the new path to American prosperity. 40 acres, a mule, and Netflix stock - everyone wins.
Short OpenTable in fund; no personal position