Today’s market was interesting in one way - in the way oil prices affected stock prices throughout the day - and rather uninteresting in the outcome, as the major indices finishes with mixed results.
Crude oil was the story of the day, as prices spiked to above $55/barrel for a short time, then retreated to an increase of 52 cents, closing at $53.57. An OPEC minister said that he can’t rule out the possibility of $80 oil in the next couple of years, and everybody freaked. $80 or not, continued oil prices above $40 and $50 have got to be considered a serious burden on the economy that people seem to be shrugging off at this point. All we hear all day on CNBC is that the stock market must be awfully strong to be holding up under the weight of these oil prices, and if we could just get oil off our back then the market could get going again. Of course, there’s no consideration given to the idea that we may actually be at a market top here…
The Dow Industrials recovered from negative territory after oil retreated, and managed a 21 point gain (+0.2%) to 10833. The S&P 500 gained less than a point, closing at 1210 and the Nasdaq fell another 9 points (-0.4%) to finish at 2058.
Market internals were mixed, with light volume on the Nasdaq side of things. As far as advances/declines, they came in at 5 to 4 on the NYSE but just short of even on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was just above the flat line on the NYSE, but quite negative at 2 to 3 on the Nasdaq. There were 295 new highs to 68 new lows.
The oil story made its way through the industry groups, as the winners of the day were led by oil services (+2.4%), oil stocks (+2.4%), airlines (+1.9% - explain that one to me), and natural gas stocks (+1.8%). On the down side, the movers were semiconductors (-1.3%), computer hardware (-1.1%), transports (-1.1%) and gold & silver stocks (-1.1%).
The US Dollar Index gained 0.2%, and gold prices fell to $430/ounce.
