What They’re Buying
Traders and investors
took the opportunity to go on a shopping spree in today’s abbreviated trading
session. In spite of weakness in foreign markets, the U.S. stock market surged
and continued surging higher into the close. Airlines and biotechs led the way
with sectors across the board posting gains.
The
Nasdaq ($COMPQ.X)
closed up 1.49%
to 1,903.01.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU.X)
closed up 1.27%
to 9,959.71.
The S&P 500 ($SPX.X)
closed up 1.12%
to 1,149.76.
The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally viewed as the
start of the holiday shopping rush, and the retailers are monitored closely in
order to gauge the health of the economy.
Overall
NYSE volume was 410,149,000.
NYSE advancing issues were 2,159,
with up volume at 331,345,000;
declining issues were 746, with
down volume at 75,913,000.
Overall Nasdaq volume was 572,171,000.
Nasdaq advancing issues were 2,176,
with up volume at 492,802,000;
declining issues were 1,022 with
down volume at 62,457,000. The VIX
was down 0.52Â to 24.80. The TRIN
was down 0.69 to 0.66. Today’s abbreviated session on light volume gives
analysts very little to go on as far as measuring market strength. The day’ nice
gains bode well for the markets going into the weekend,
yet some of our Market
Bias Indicators are still turned down.
Retail got a boost with Wal-Mart Stores
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up
$0.68 to $55.80, Kmart
(
KM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up $0.28 to $6.85, and Sears Roebuck
(
S |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up
$0.85 to $45.12
Top
sectors of the day were the Airline
Index ($XAL.X)
up 3.97%
to 89.61 and
the Biotechnology Index ($BTK.X)
up 2.52%
to 599.92.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Gold
And Silver Sector Index ($XAU)
down 0.12%
to 49.83, and
the Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG.X)
down 0.09%
to 401.5.
Oil
companies ChevronTexaco (CVX)
gained 0.60% to close at 86.60
and ExxonMobil (XOM)
was up
1.50%
to 38.45,
after Russia said it would cut oil exports by 50,000 barrels a day in the fourth
quarter, disappointing those who anticipated a bigger cut.
Drug
maker Eli Lilly (LLY)
down
1.13% to 82.39
had its drug
Xigris approved by
the Food and Drug Administration. Analysts believe the new product could
generate sales over 1 billion annually.
Tobacco
company RJ Reynolds
(RJR)
dipped
0.63% to 56.44 after
announcing
the acquisition of Santa Fe Natural
Tobacco for $320 million.
Shares of
Swedish mobile systems maker Ericsson
(ERICY)
rose 6.32%
to 5.55 after the company announced it expects few rivals in the
market for its third-generation mobile phones.
Microchip
maker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC)
fell
3.77% to 7.15 after the company
announced it would release $350 million worth of convertible bonds.
Drug maker IVAX
(IVX)
rose 5.18% to
that the Food and
Drug Administration approved its metformin hydrochloride tablets.