Marder’s Market Brief
Monday’s trade was the sort that pleases those players looking for some backing-and-filling action prior to a year-end romp. The headline averages gave back slight ground, NYSE turnover dried up, and the tech leaders hardly quivered. Breadth on the Big Board, however, at 21 to 10 in favor of losers, was far worse than a Dow off 41 points. The reason for the heavy weighting of decliners was the decay in many interest-sensitive issues — they comprise about 30% of all NYSE stocks. In fact, the NYSE Finance Index, a good proxy for rate-exposed issues, receded for the eighth day in a row. Utility stocks also dripped red ink, down for the 14th time in 17 sessions. Over on the Nasdaq, the Comp churned as volume stayed extremely heavy at 1.52 billion, making this the third most active day ever in four-letter-land. For the Comp, it was just the fifth loss in 22 outings. The Goldman Sachs Internet Index lost 2.7% after bolting about 43% over the past six weeks. In all, not
a bad showing given the meaty 31/32-point shrinkage in the Dec. bond contract.
The long yield went out at 6.300%, the highest in a month.
Also, see Marder
On The Market, a weekly look at intermediate-term stock
trading.