Hmm. Interesting. Quite a reversal intra-day today, and volume was a little heavier than it has been lately. The Dow was up by as many as 111 points - it finished up 16 points (+0.2%) at 10483. The S&P 500 was up more than 11 points - it finished lower by a quarter-point at 1197. The Nasdaq was up 20 points, within 4 points of 2100, and closed down 9 points (-0.4%) at 2067. That kind of action can’t be real encouraging for the bulls, but it doesn’t spell disaster yet either.
The Russell 2000 finished with a gain of just less than a point (+0.1%) at 624, the Dow Transports dropped 0.6%, the Dow Utilities were higher by 0.3%, and bonds moved higher pushing the yield on the 1-year note down to 3.91%.
Market internals remained on the positive side on the NYSE, with advances/declines at 9/7, up/down volume just under 5/4 and new highs/lows at 261/21. A different picture on the Nasdaq, however, with advances/declines 11/12, up/down volume 3/5 and new highs/lows at 125/44.
Group movement was relatively small, with hospitals (+1.7%) and paper stocks (+1.2%) finishing higher, and gold & silver stocks (-2.0%), computer hardware (-1.2%), semiconductors (-1.1%) and natural gas stocks (-1.0%) moving lower.
Crude oil prices fell slightly to $53.76/barrel, the dollar index fell 0.15% to 87.46, and gold finished around $424/ounce.
BMB Note: Today’s reversal could mean that the market has had enough for now. Certainly the chances for a correction/pullback in the near term have increased.