Markets opened higher this morning amid positive comments from Angela Merkel regarding future Greek debt writeoffs.  However that exuberance faded as the first half hour of market action marked the highs of the day.  At 10:00 a.m. the ISM Manufacturing number was released and the reading of 49.5 signaled that the economy may be entering a period of contraction.  As expected that data caused a sharp reaction to the downside and indexes currently sit near their lows of the day. At present levels the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) is off by about 0.3% with commodities slightly higher for the day.  ...