After the major indices took the day off yesterday, they turned the turbo chargers on today and roared to new record highs. The DOW rocketed up 205 points to close at 25,574. The S&P 500 added 19 points to finish today at 2,767 and the NASDAQ was up 58 points to close at a peak of 7,211.
BA, CAT and UNH did much of the upside lifting again for the DOW. We also had the energy stocks going strong with CVX and XOM adding to the gains. The NASDAQ was led higher by AMZN and NFLX…both appear unstoppable at the present time.
Breadth numbers were at a very strong upside ratio of 2.4 to 1. The Russell 2000 Index assisted in this solid rise while the useless VIX limped along with a fractional gain and closed today at 9.88.
Bond yields were a little lower with the 10-year Treasury Note down a bit to 2.54%. This follows the controversy over whether a report of a lack of new Chinese buying was accurate. The 2-year Treasury Note remains at 1.98%. The Euro was stronger at 1.203 on a report that the E.C.B. will only change policy gradually. The Japanese yen was stronger against the dollar at 111.1. Gold was higher to $1,323 on the weaker dollar and crude oil was percolating along with a gain up to $63.49.
The overall bull market is now in its 104th straight month. This compares to the average length of 59 months for the 11 bull markets since 1949 and it is now the second longest bull market in history.
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.