The team at Bespoke Investment Group has dug up another interesting nugget about the stock market. Look at where S&P 500 members are trading relative to their 50-day moving averages, they say, and you'll surmise there's more upside in equities. Technology and energy stocks score best on this metric, while Nashville's best-represented sector has a lot of room to catch up.

Eddy Elfenbein and Bespoke Investment Group both have commented recently on the large number of companies that have been reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Just the typical Wall Street game of lowballing and beating, you say? Maybe, but it's also worth pointing out that guidance raises also are rising, another sign the economy is on firmer footing.

Bespoke Investment Group points out that there hasn't been a single day this year on which stock analysts have collectively upgraded the names they cover.

Sensing some froth in the market, the number crunchers at Bespoke Investment Group have run the S&P 500 through the washer to see which names might be getting ahead of themselves a bit. Among the 36 stocks that are at least 15 percent above their 50-day moving averages are Regions Financial and First Horizon, the parent companies of two of Middle Tennessee's biggest banks.

Bespoke Investment Group has a neat summary of what price-to-earnings ratios have done since the market's spring peak. The more defensive utilities and consumer staples sectors have held their ground better than most, but if investors begin to think about retesting the March 2009 lows, they, too, will have many more red days ahead.

People are hoping earnings season will get all of the other issues out there right now off the minds of investors, but that means earnings have to come in strong.  If the numbers come in weak, it could be a long reporting period.