After two lower weeks, the DOW decided today that enough was enough. The index closed 72 points higher. It was assisted by advances in some of the recent leaders such as BA, CAT and 3M…stocks of the industrial variety along with IBM.
The S&P 500 gained 3 today and the NASDAQ added 7 points. AMZN, FB, AAPL and GOOG were down. NVDA, PCLN, NFLX and MSFT were higher. Health care stocks were weak and thereby restraining the Biotech Index.
Breadth numbers were positive at a 16/12 upside ratio and the VIX was lower by 6.8%…down to 10.65. The VIX decline is rather large considering the fact that the S&P was pretty flat today.
Bond yields were higher for the 10-year Treasury Note at 2.37% and the 2-year at 1.75%. This means that the yield curve is still at a 10-year low of .62%. The dollar was stronger with the Euro down to 117.4 and the Japanese yen at 112.5. Gold gave back all of its Friday’s gains with a decline of $20 down to $1,276 an ounce. Crude oil was down at $56.38 a barrel.
Donald M. Selkin
These are excerpts from Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes, abbreviated and updated with permission from the author. 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.