Has The Tide Turned?
Buyers
ruled the markets for the second day in a row, as high volume powered
the major indexes through key technical levels. Hewlett Packard’s
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beating its earning target by $0.02 got things off to a positive start, and a
rejection of an earnings warning from General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) helped put
the bulls on solid ground for the day. Price action rose steadily throughout the
session. Upside breakouts have failed miserably for the past two years, though
only time will tell how this one holds.
Dow
Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +2.57%
at 8,845.48. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
+2.14%
at 933.79. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +3.38%
at 1,467.46.
The day’s biggest gains were in
Internet
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +10.01%, airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+8.65%, semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +8.06%, networking
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+7.56%, and computer hardware
(
$GHA.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +7.18%.
The day’s big losers were in healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.51%, and gold and silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.85%.
Economic news was better than
expected, with initial jobless claims fell 25,000 to 376,000 vs.
an expected 394,000, leading indicators were flat vs. an expected decline
of 0.1, and the Philadelphia Fed. Index rose 6.1 percent compared to
October’s negative 13.1 level.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was -150 at 112 275.
The Dollar was -0.12 at
105.93.
Volume was well above
average at 1,993,793,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,418,844,000
on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 2.18, and up
volume over down volume by a 4.26 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 2.17, and up volume beat down volume by a 8.43 ratio.
The
VIX
was -1.29 at 27.37. The TRIN
was -0.24 at 0.51.
Leading the Dow higher were:
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+12.71% at 18.99, General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +9.06% at 38.50, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+8.66% at 24.71, General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +8.26% at 26.85, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.43% at 20.19, and Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.39% at 19.55.
Stocks in the news:
Broker Morgan Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.89% at 46.40, announced it was eliminating 3.8% of its workforce, or 2.200
jobs.
Biotech firm Chiron
(
CHIR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.40% at 42.26, had coverage initiated by Prudential with a “hold”
rating.
Auto makers were up nicely, as
Deutsche Bank said November sales are likely to surpass October sales. General
Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +9.06% at 38.50, and Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +15.56% at 10.32.
Drug maker Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.33% at 85.82, was up after announcing its experimental vaccine may be an
effective preventive measure against cervical cancer.
Food-processing company Smithfield
Foods
(
SFD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +11.34% at 19.23, missed its second-quarter earnings by
$0.05 with profits of $0.03.
Chemical manufacturing company
PPG Industries
(
PPG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.78% at 48.02, lowered its earnings guidance for
the fourth-quarter to $0.55-$0.60 per share vs. previous estimates of $0.77 per
share.
Biotech company Cardinal
Health
(
CAH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.53% at 62.05, sold off after it announced it is in
discussion to modify its merger agreement with Syncor International
(
SCOR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+4.95% at 25.40, after the discovery of questionable payments to Syncor
customers.
Retailer Limited Brands
(
LTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.37% at 16.11, fell after is posted fiscal third-quarter earnings
dropped 83% from a year ago.
From TM’s Momentum List,
software and programming company Cognizant Technology
(
CTSH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.07%
at 70.75.