Well, the glow from the morning jobs report didn’t amount to much, as the market went pretty much nowhere on very light trading volume today. Seemed like mid-July, didn’t it?
The Dow Industrials gained only 5 points to 10345, the S&P 500 fell a little over a point (-0.1%) to 1171, and the Nasdaq added 6 points (+0.3%) to 1967. The Russell 2000 gained less than a point to 597, the Dow Transports added 0.1% while the Utilities dropped 0.4% and bonds sold off on the good jobs report, with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.26%.
Market internals were mixed, with advances/declines at 9 to 10 on the NYSE and 10 to 9 on the Nasdaq, up/down volume was even on the NYSE but a positive 9 to 5 on the Nasdaq, and new highs/lows came in at 78/35 on the NYSE and 46/85 on the Nasdaq. New highs on the Nasdaq haven’t caught up with new lows yet, but we have been seeing the number of new lows declining. That’s good.
Not a lot of big movers today, with the gainers led by internets (+1.3%), paper stocks (+1.1%), broker/dealers (+1.0%) and transportation (+0.9%). The losers were led by the banks (-1.0%) and REITs (-0.9%).
Crude oil traded above $51 going into the morning, but fell back as the day progressed, finishing at $50.96/barrel. The dollar index rose 0.8% on the strong jobs report, and gold prices fell to $426/ounce.