Bear Mountain Bull

The late wrap — a rather interesting day, very uncharacteristic of a pre-holiday session. Stocks started weak, never caught much of a bid at all, and sagged into the close:

Internals were negative. Volume was still light, but not as light as the usual holiday, and was nearly even with yesterday on the Nasdaq. Advances/declines were 1 to 5 on both exchanges, with up/down volume 1 to 15 on the NYSE and 1 to 6 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 16/5 on the NYSE and 13/10 on the Nasdaq.

When the day’s ‘leaders’ are all red, you know it wasn’t a good day:
Leaders — Defense (-0.10%), Semis (-1.15%), Airlines (-1.90%), Internet (-2.19%), Software (-2.19%), Health Care (-2.31%), Paper (-2.32%), Health Care Products (-2.40%)
Laggards — REITs (-5.46%), HMOs (-4.97%), Oil Services (-4.57%), Natural Gas (-4.19%), Retailers (-3.83%), Hospitals (-3.69%), Oil (-3.67%), Homebuilders (-3.48%)

Treasury Yields — 6-Month: .29%,  2-Year: .98%,  5-Year: 2.42%,  10-Year: 3.49%,  30-Year: 4.32%

Energy Prices — Crude oil: $66.73/barrel,  Gasoline: $1.7908/gallon,  Natural Gas: $3.615/mmBTU

US Dollar Index — 80.297

Precious Metals — Gold: $928.80/ounce,  Silver: $13.35/ounce,  Platinum: $1183.00/ounce

BMB Note:  
The magnitude of the move down today is fairly surprising — makes you wonder if the bears might actually start to gain some traction here soon. Today’s breakdowns in energy and defense, are not good news, and breakdowns are being threatened in the financials, housing and retail as well.

If you’re still long, make sure you’re honoring your stops. We will continue to look for opportunities on the short side.

For those here in the states, have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July holiday. We’ll have our usual weekend fare here at BMB, so feel free to drop by.