Well, the market covered a lot of ground today, but ended up pretty much where it started on light trading volume. Starting off lower, then higher, the Dow Industrials finished the day with a 10 point gain (+0.1%) to 10523, the S&P 500 managed to add 3 points (+0.2% to 1201, and the Nasdaq was higher by 6 points (+0.3%) to 2069. The Russell 2000 gained 3 points (+0.4%) to 629, the Dow Transports fell another 0.2%, the Dow Utilities added 0.3% and bonds were relatively flat, with the 10-year note at 4.09%.
Though the indices didn’t show much of a gain, the market internals were positive, with advances leading declines by 9/7 on the NYSE and 10/9 on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume was even better, at nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and 8 to 5 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 149 on the NYSE and 114/44 on the Nasdaq.
More winners than losers today, with gains coming in hospitals (+1.4%), paper stocks (+1.3%), natural gas stocks (+1.1%), commodities (+1.1%), and HMOs (+1.1%). The only group losing significant ground was the airlines, down 1.5%.
Crude oil had a big day, rallying more than $2 to finish at $55.62 - ouch. The dollar continued its move higher, with the dollar index gaining 0.3% to 88.91. Gold, no longer seeming to move strictly opposite the dollar, also gained ground to above $428/ounce.
The market just can’t seem to get much going on the up side, but it isn’t breaking down yet either. But I’m getting awfully tired treading water…