The market floundered a bit today, looking for a direction, and never really found it. The major indices finished mixed on relatively light volume. The Dow Industrials were down most of the day, but finished in the black by 10 points (+0.1%) at 10513. The S&P 500 lost 3 points (-0.2%) and the Nasdaq took it much harder, dropping 14 points (-0.7%) to 2063. The Russell 2000 gained less than a point, the Dow Transports were flat, the Dow Utilities were up another 0.6%, and bonds had a rough day, with the 10-year yield moving all the way up to 4.05%.
Market internals were mixed. Advances declines were just less than even on the NYSE and 7 to 8 on the Nasdaq, up/down volume was just better than even on the NYSE but a poor 4 to 9 on the Nasdaq, and new highs/lows were 143/24 on the NYSE and 88/35 on the Nasdaq.
The lone big winners on the day were the gold & silver stocks, moving higher by 3.7%. On the down side were the semiconductors (-1.8%), internets (-1.4%), HMOs (-1.4%) and computer technology stocks (-1.0%).
Crude oil pulled back a bit as we await the arrival of the first tropical storm in the Gulf, falling 74 cents to $53.54/barrel. The dollar held up well under the trade deficit news, with the dollar index moving up 0.7% to 88.70. Even with the dollar making gains, the price of gold moved up to $427/ounce.