Markets Gaining Ground
Today
the major indexes jumped off the bell, drifted down for an hour and a
half, then traded higher into the close, locking in gains for the day.
Technology led the action as blue chips lagged.Â
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) closed up 0.23%
to 9,982.75.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating) rose 0.58%
to close at 1,156.99
and the
Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) closed up
2.00%
to 1,941.24.
The official designation of an
economic recession by The
National Bureau of Economic Research led
headlines today. Also, evidence of “healthy” shopping habits over the
weekend helped move the markets forward as military action in Afghanistan
expanded into a larger ground presence. This week important data will give a
clearer picture of the economy with releases of consumer sentiment (Tuesday) and
the GDP (Friday).
Overall
NYSE volume was 1,074,317,000.
NYSE advancing issues were 1,672,
with up volume at 644,215,000;
declining issues were 1,507,
with down volume at 407,543,000.
Overall Nasdaq volume was 1,695,688,000.
Nasdaq advancing issues were 2,115,
with up volume at 1,401,007,000;
declining issues were 1,569 with
down volume at 270,831,000. The VIX
was up 0.46 to 25.24. The TRIN
was up .03 to 0.69. Volume was light this Monday though the gains were decent.
Important junctures in the market may be challenged this week; the Dow, with its
psychological 10,000 mark, and all three indexes creeping up on their 61.8%
Fibonacci levels from the May highs as well as their 200-day MA’s.
Top
sectors of the day were the Morgan
Stanley Internet Idx
(
$MOX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 4.19%
to 14.42 and
the Semiconductor Sector Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 4.14%
to 532.47.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Natural
Gas Index
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 1.75%
to 179.77 and
the Oil Index
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 1.64%
to 487.83.
The
world’s biggest computer chip maker Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 2.64%
to 31.88, announced it had created a new
microprocessor that performs faster, costs less, and uses less power.
IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 0.85% to 116.33
reported that it had created a smaller low cost computer based on a new chip by
Intel.
Home
furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports
(
PIR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
climbed 5.94% to 14.80, raising
third-quarter earnings forecast to earnings between 21 and 23 cents a share, compared to 24
cents a year ago.
Online
retailer Amazon
(
AMZN |
Quote |
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News |
PowerRating)
jumped 33.81%
to 12.15 after announcing its Delight-o-Meter (the company’s method for measuring
online sales) reported a normal reading with 8.9 million orders since Nov. 9.
Online
retailer Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 14.88%
to 18.07Â reported shopping had increased over 75% for this year’s
Thanksgiving weekend compared to last year’s. Electronics represented the bulk
of the sales.
Shares
of Lucent
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell 4.41% to 8.02 were
downgraded by both Morgan
Stanley and ABN AMRO.