GDP Fires Up Dow
A strong showing of first quarter Gross Domestic Product sent bears running
Friday as stocks staged a broad based rally that took the Nasdaq up 2.0%, the
Dow up 1.1%, and the S&P 500 up 1.5%.Â
Doom and gloom took a backseat as the 2% GDP growth rate suggested that the
economy might be in much better shape than many analysts had anticipated.Â
The GDP’s 2.0% clip was more than double the expected rate, and that robust
figure combined with a week of fairly good earnings reports to rally both blue
chips and technology alike.
All three major averages held above their respective 50-day moving averages,
and the Dow notched its highest close since March 8.
Volume was moderate and slightly below Thursday’s levels, as 1.79 billion
shares traded on the Nasdaq and 1.08 billion shares traded on the NYSE.
“The market has been consolidating last week’s gains, yet staying within that range, and the bias has
been to the upside with little or no fanfare. It’s been a broad rally that is not really on the backs of the
traditional leadership stocks like the over-owned, over-valued big mega-cap tech names. It’s really been much
more broad,” said Scott Bleier, Chief Investment Strategist, Prime Charter
Limited.
“While there are legitimate fundamental worries going forward from a corporate profit perspective, the market is
actually receiving money that is being put to work. We are in the process of trying to establish the higher end of our near
term trading range, and I don’t think we are there yet,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq rose 40.85 to 2075.73, the Dow
gained 117.70 to 10,810.05, and the S&P 500 added 18.53 to 1253.05.
Top sectors were biotechnology
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up 5.0%, Internets
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3.0%.
While most sectors were comfortably in the green, oil services
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was one of the few down groups, falling 1.0%.
Tops in the biotechs were Immune Response
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up 11%, Gilead
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Leading the SOX were Advanced Micro
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up 7%, Linear Technologies
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Dow winners were Intel
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4.4%, And Wal-Mart
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In the energy-related arena, FuelCell
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5.45 to 64.03 on heavier-than-average volume.
Looking ahead, the personal income and consumer spending reports will be
released on Monday at 8:30 AM ET. Analysts expect increases of 0.5% and 0.3%,
respectively. The National Association of Purchasing Managers is set for release
on Tuesday.