After going lower last week for the first time in nine weeks, the major indices initially decided today that they wanted to continue the downward trend. The DOW declined early in the session by as much as 79 points while the S&P 500 was lower by 8 and the NASDAQ was falling by 28. Some people felt the morning urge to sell, but soon after the opening, prices were grinding higher. At the closing bell, the DOW had gained of 17 points, the S&P was higher by 2, and the NASDAQ finished up 7 points.
The DOW was led by BA and HD ahead of its report tomorrow morning…plus MCD. On the other hand, GE was at a five-year low after it cut its dividend in half. TRV and UTX ended lower today.
The NASDAQ was led higher today by AMZN at its own new record at 1129. NFLX was positive and TSLA was higher by 4% after all of the downgrades against it. PCLN climbed 24 points to end at 1,722 per share today.
Breadth numbers were negative again as the Russell 2000 Index continued its slide. The perception seems to be that if the tax bill does not pass, it would continue to impact the smaller companies paying higher taxes than the larger ones.
Bond yields continued their higher levels from late Friday. The 10-year Treasury Note was at 2.39% and the 2-year at 1.68%. This means that the yield curve has moved a little higher from last week’s nine-year lows and is now up to .71%. The dollar was quiet against the other currencies but the British Pound was down to 1.31 on the typical BREXIT worries. Gold was higher up to $1,278 an ounce after that strange late Friday selloff. The precious metal seems to have good support around $1,270. Crude oil was down a fraction to $56.94 a barrel.
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.