The DOW reached the historic 22,000 mark yesterday. You can thank a terrific report from component AAPL which jumped to a new all-time high on its largest move in six months. AAPL’s positivity accounted for the bulk of the closing gain of 52 to 22,016. This was the DOW’s 32nd new high this year. It was also its sixth straight record close and its seventh straight higher session.
In addition to AAPL, the DOW yesterday claimed support from MCD, 3M and UTX in its journey to 22,000. This is the third milestone this year of a round number…something that has never taken place in market history.
The S&P 500 managed to eke out a closing advance of 1 point up to 2477. We are now navigating through the potentially treacherous month of August…a month that has shown only 5 higher months in the past 20 years.
With 90 minutes to the closing bell today, the DOW has a 21 point gain while the S&P 500 is down 4 and the NASDAQ is lower by 14.
Today has been another mixed day just ahead of tomorrow’s always-important jobs report. With no help from AAPL, yesterday’s upside darling, the DOW is getting support from BA once again and TRV and UNH at new highs, in addition to WMT.
On the other hand, both the NASDAQ and the Russell 2000 Index of small stocks are lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions.
In addition to AAPL being lower, AMZN continues to languish, as does PCLN and GOOG. On the flip side, TSLA rewarded its followers with a strong day.
Breadth numbers are negative due to declines in the NASDAQ and Russell 2000. The VIX is drifting lower down to 10.21 for a small loss of .16 as the major indices continue to drift in narrow ranges. Adding to the positive the reporting, are STMP at a new high on its report, WYN, TTWO, CLX, K and AET. SOme lower stock prices go to SWIR, REGN, CHD, DISH and YUM.
Bond yields are down with the 10-year Treasury Note at 2.24% while the dollar continues to weaken against the Euro at 1.187 and crude oil is a little lower at $49.35.
Donald M. Selkin
Don Selkin is the Chief Market Strategist at Newbridge Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC and provides the Fair Value analysis for CNBC each morning. The commentary provided in this Market Letter is intended to provide timely market analysis and should not be considered a research report. This Market Letter may contain, and is limited to: Discussions of broad based indices; Commentaries on economic, political or market conditions; Technical analyses concerning the demand and supply for a sector, index or industry based in trading volume and price; Statistical summaries of multiple companies’ financial data, including listings of current ratings; and, Recommendations regarding increasing or decreasing holdings in particular industries or securities. This Market Letter does not make a financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promotes a product or service of the firm. This Market Letter contains only news, facts, and commentary on information previously reported from a news source believed to be accurate and reliable by the author. These news sources include the following: Bloomberg Financial, Reuters and the Associated Press.