Stealth Rally Intact
Financial stocks helped power a blue-chip rally that helped the Dow close at
its highest level since April 12 while even the S&P 500 managed to touch
levels not seen since April 10 before pulling back slightly at the close.
Big-cap techs and select networking companies gave the Nasdaq some strength as
well, allowing it to continue its stealthy August rally.
For the day, the Nasdaq rose 0.7% and the Dow and S&P 500 added 0.5%
each, although again it was no surprise that pre-holiday volume remained weak,
with 1.36 billion shares trading on the Nasdaq and 727 million shares trading on
the NYSE.
"We’re seeing too much complacency
and too much agreement as to the market’s trend, and so we feel the potential
for disappointment is high. We are growing more and more troubled with the
increasing agreement amongst the herd that stocks will undoubtedly be rising
during the fourth quarter," said Brian G. Belski, Fundamental Market
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray.
"While we also subscribe to this train of thought, the contrarian in us
cannot help but speculate that a bump in the road may come about as a result of
the growing optimism," he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq rose 28.04 to 4070.72, the Dow
added 60.21 to 11252.72, and the S&P 500 gained 7.69 to 1514.15.
Top-performing sectors included broker/dealers
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services
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technology
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Weaker sectors were Internets
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down 1.4%, gold and silver
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down 1.7%.
Tech winners included Avanex
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up 11 3/4 to 209 11/16, Juniper Networks
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Corning
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Though not a tech, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
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one, rising 10 3/4 to 90 3/4 and establishing an all-time high.
Leading the Dow were American Express
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up 4.2%, and Citigroup
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down 1.6%, Wal-Mart
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Looking ahead, the consumer confidence numbers for August and the new home
sales for July will be released on Tuesday at 10:00 AM ET. Street estimates look
for a 141.7 reading in consumer confidence and 837,000 new home sales.