The market seemed like it was all over the place today, first hot, then cold, then hot again, then cold again, but managed to finish up on the “warm” side. Maybe that’s what happens on options expiration. The Dow Industrials gained 46 points (+0.4%) to 10766, the S&P 500 added 5 points (+0.4%) to 1248 and the Nasdaq was higher by 7 points (+0.3%) t0 2227. The Russell 2000 did a little better than the big boys, adding 5 points (+0.8%) to 672. The Dow Transport hit another new high by gaining 1.4%, but the Utilities fell 0.3%. Bonds pulled back from their recent rally, sending yields higher and also steepening the curve back up a bit: the 2-year sits at 4.39%, the 5-year at 4.43% and the 10-year at 4.50%.
Market internals also bounced around today, but ended up on the positive side, accompanied by good volume. Advances/declines on both exchanges were about 11 to 8, with up/down volume at better than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and 3 to 2 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 186/132 on the NYSE and 173/50 on the Nasdaq.
Looking at the industry groups, there weren’t too many big movers. Winners were semiconductors (+2.5% - helped by a 13% gain in MRVL), biotechs (+1.1%), telecom (+1.1%) and transports (+0.9%). Losers were software (-1.3%) and airlines (-1.0%).
The pricing on crude oil might get a bit confused over the weekend, as the front-month contract moves from December to January. The day’s action on the December contract closed at $56.14/barrel, but trading on the January contract is already at $57.21. That’s a pretty large difference, so be aware of that when looking at the “price” of oil. The dollar index barely moved, at 91.89, and gold took a bit of a rest, back to $485/ounce.
BMB Note: Another day of good action. I’m not sure what keeps it going, but it’s gone well for about a month now. The question remains: can it continue? We’ve have a number of these rallies over the past couple of years, and none of them have lasted. Trading range.
