Exchange traded funds continued rallying Thursday as commodity
prices surged, stocks climbed to a two-month high and corporate
earnings beat views.
United States Oil (
USO
) and other ETFs tracking crude oil gapped up 3% to a two-month
high on worries that conflicts in the Middle East could disrupt
supplies. Fears over the Mideast outweighed data showing ample
U.S. supply. For the week ended July 13, U.S. crude oil
stockpiles of 377.4 million barrels are higher than average for
this time of year, the U.S. Department of Energy reported. USO
climbed a whopping 6% so far this week, logging its largest
one-week gain of the year.
PowerShares NASDAQ Internet (
PNQI
) popped 2.77% afterEbay (
EBAY
) reported second-quarter profits and sales that eclipsed Wall
Street estimates. Shares of the online swap meet soared 9% to a
six-year high.
IBD's Doug Tsuruoka reported
Ebay's growth in Asia and Europe was strong and that the
impact from Europe's recession wasn't as bad as thought.
The euphoria spread to online retail giantAmazon.com (
AMZN
), which surged more than 4%.
IShares PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector (
SOXX
) and other chip-sector ETFs rose about 2%.Mellanox Technologies
(MLNX) blew away analysts' estimates after hours Wednesday. As
Patrick Seitz reported
the Israeli chip designer is at the forefront of the
cloud-computing boom.
PNQI and SOXX surged 2.1% and 4.4%, respectively, so far this
week vs. a 1.3% return for the S&P 500.
Market Overview
In afternoon trade, theSPDR S&P 500 (SPY) was nearly flat
at 137.48 after giving back most of its morning gains. It rose as
much as 0.6% in intraday to a two-month high of 138.18. It
appears to have hit price resistance near the same place it did
on July 5, after which it fell below its 50-day moving
average.
"Equities continue to consolidate within a large range. Though
recent action has been constructive, an awareness of the bigger
picture makes us take a skeptical view of any strength," Waverly
Advisors told clients. "Be careful of increasing long exposure
too quickly in the current environment. Tactical traders should
stand ready to pursue shorts on any breakdown."
As
IBD's Leaderboard
shows the market's uptrend is questionable because of the
number of distribution days it's experienced recently.
SPY faces key price resistance at $139 to $141 a share, where
traders should short the market, according to Simon Maierhofer,
founder of iSpyETF.com.
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) was ahead just 0.12%.
It also gave back morning gains.
PowerShares QQQ (QQQ), a basket of the largest 100
nonfinancial stocks on the Nasdaq, added 1.09%.
IShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA), tracking developed foreign
markets, climbed 0.79%.
IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) rose 0.77%.
Follow Trang Ho on Twitter
@TrangHoETFs
.