Yesterday was a big day for blue chips as
Johnson & Johnson
(NYSE:
JNJ
),
Verizon Communication
(NYSE:
VZ
) and
Hewlett-Packard
(NYSE:
HPQ
) led the Dow to a gain. But the other averages slugged it out for
the entire day, and only a late rally overcame earlier deficits and
they closed barely ahead. Nevertheless, the Dow ended the month
with a gain of 2.81%, the Nasdaq rose 3.04%, and the S&P 500
rose 3.2%.
Daily Stock Market News
Dow:
+96 points at 12,226
S&P 500:
+7 points at 1,327
Nasdaq:
+1 point at 2,782
Volume and Breadth
NYSE:
1.3 billion shares traded; advancers ahead 2.3-to-1
Nasdaq:
638 million shares traded; advancers/decliners even
Futures and Related ETFs
April Crude Oil:
-91 cents at $96.97 per barrel;
Energy Select Sector SPDR
(NYSE:
XLE
) +60 cents at $78.54
April Gold:
+60 cents at $1,409.90 per ounce;
PHLX Gold/Silver Sector Index
(NASDAQ:
XAU
) +3.11 points at 215.32
What the Markets Are Saying
Unless you are a fan of QE2, yesterday's tape action was as
strange as I've seen in a while. There was decent volume on the
NYSE on a day that was up, which is good. But the Dow was the only
index to benefit from it.
A comment by William Dudley of the New York Fed may explain the
tape action when he said, "although rising commodity prices argue
for increased inflation vigilance, the economy is unlikely to mount
strong enough growth to change the path of monetary policy over
coming months." (Wink, wink.)
For those who missed the "wink," what Mr. Dudley was saying was
that there is huge inflation in food and energy, which the Fed
refuses to recognize because they are determined to go ahead with
QE2. And my guess is that yesterday was a day to buy blue chips
since the biggest and best have been lagging a bit lately.
Regardless of the reason for yesterday's buying, from a
technical point of view the Dow exceeded the resistance at 12,221
by about 6 points, thus negating last week's short-term sell
signal, which places it at a neutral stance. And the S&P 500
also exceeded its resistance by closing at 1,327, which neutralizes
its sell signal.
But a strong point for the bulls is the rally by the Nasdaq. The
leading index of the last six months has again hammered out enough
of a gain to close above January's high-water mark. However, in
order for it to regain its status as "bullish," it must punch
through the resistance at 2,808 to 2,824, which is the gap that it
opened last Tuesday. The ability of the major indices to reverse
from their 50-day moving averages and punch above the 20-day
averages is a plus, too, and strong evidence that the uptrend will
most likely resume.
For one top stock to buy now, see the
Trade of the Day
.
Today's Trading Landscape
To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today,
click here
.
For a list of this week's economic reports due out,
click here
.
If you have questions or comments for Sam Collins, please
e-mail him at
samailc@cox.net
.