The major indices never wandered too far from home today, spending most of the morning just below the flat line, most of the afternoon above it, then running out of steam into the close. The Dow Industrials finished with a slight loss of 6 points (-0.1%) at 10514, the S&P 500 gained 3 points (+0.2%) to 1222 and the Nasdaq added 8 points (+0.4%) to 2143. The Russell 200 dropped 1 point (-0.1%) to 671, the Dow Transports fell back by 0.7%, the Dow Utilities gained 0.5% and bonds slipped somewhat, with the yield on the 10-year note edging up to 4.14%.
Market internals were positive on rather average volume. Advances/declines were 11/8 on the NYSE, but only just better than flat on the Nasdaq. Up/down volume looked better, at 12/7 on both exchanges. New highs/lows still going strong at 395/23 on the NYSE and 194/20 on the Nasdaq.
Movements within the industries were a little more muted today, with networkers leading the way higher with a gain of 2.1%, followed by oil services (+1.5%), retailers (+1.2%), natural gas stocks (+1.0%), oil stocks (+1.0%) and semiconductors (+1.0%). Heading lower were the airlines (-1.9%) and hospitals (-1.2%).
Crude oil prices continued their rebound, jumping another $1.70 to $60.62/barrel. The dollar index got slammed for another 1.2% today, falling to 88.42. Gold prices held near $427/ounce.
