Another triple-digit move in the Dow today, this time to the upside, as the wild swings in the market resumed after a couple of days of rest. The major indices moved to test resistance on the upside for a change, with the DJ Industrials gaining 128 points (+1.2%) to 10385, the S&P 500 moved 14 points higher (+1.3%) to 1176 and the Nasdaq picked up 29 points (+1.5%) to 1962. The Russell 2000 joined in with a 11 point gain (+1.8%) to 595, the Dow Transports added 1.7% while the Dow Utilities gained 0.1%. The bond market was all over the place today after the Treasury said it was pondering reissuing the 30-year bond. That sent long bonds lower (yields higher), and when the day was over the 10-year had moved slightly lower, finishing at a yield of 4.20%.
Very healthy action in the market today on decent volume. Advances led declines by better than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and 2 to 1 on the Nasdaq, with up/down volume at 6 to 1 on the NYSE and 7 to 2 on the Naz. New highs/lows came in at 75/29 on the NYSE and 50/102 on the Nasdaq.
Gains across the board in the industries today, with the best being the broker/dealers (+3.7%), steel stocks (+3.1%), internets (+2.7%), semiconductors (+2.4%), hospitals (+2.2%), oil services (+2.1%), computer hardware (+2.0%), gold & silver stocks (+2.0%), chemicals (+1.9%), networking (+1.8%) and transportation (+1.7%).
Crude oil prices rose to $50.13/barrel, the dollar index fell 0.6% and gold prices held steady near $429/ounce.
Overall, a good day in the market. We’d like to see a few more of these, and hopefully this one won’t be followed by a triple-digit selloff tomorrow. The market is starting to edge a little higher here, and it would be great to see some higher lows made if and when it pulls back. We’ll see how it goes.
