Today’s semi-holiday trading, with the bond market closed, was lighter than usual. The major indices remained in narrow ranges…which has mostly been the norm this year. The DOW lost 12 points, the S&P was down 4, and the NASDAQ finished 10 points lower today.
After a slightly higher opening, the financials sold off after their huge gains last week on the prospect of higher interest rates. European yields were lower, perhaps affecting the 10-year Treasury Note when it re-opens tomorrow. In addition, the healthcare stocks were weak today. On the positive end, the technology components such as AAPL, IBM and MSFT were up today along with WMT that jumped about 2%.
The NASDAQ moved higher with help from high-fliers AMZN, BIDU, FB, NVDA, and PCLN.
Breadth numbers were slightly negative while the VIX corrected upward from that bizarre all-time low close of 9.19 last Thursday. It gained 7% today to end at 10.33.
Even though market movements were small today in the major indices, let it be remembered that for the year, the Dow is ahead by 15%, the S&P is higher by 14%, the NASDAQ has gained 22% so far this year.
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. These are excerpts from Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes, abbreviated and updated with permission from the author.