There wasn’t a lot of conviction today. Trading desks were quiet. The market got off to another quick start today and then faded. The averages were off slightly for most of the day before buyers came in near the end of trading. The market was better at the open on rumors that Spain would make their formal aid request this weekend. Then it was released that no announcement was imminent so buying waned.
The S&P 500 rallied to close slightly higher. Apple bounced off technical support at its 50 day moving average and the stock moved higher off that and brought the market higher. Defensive sectors, healthcare, utilities and telecom were leaders today. Materials and consumer discretionary stocks lagged the overall market. Increased rumors regarding consolidation in the telecom services area pushed those stocks higher. Bloomberg reported that Deutsche Telecom would buy PCS at some point this week and stocks in the pre-paid area of telecom were bid up after the news.
Materials were off today largely due to poor performance from steels and base metals. Cruse traded off 0.75% and natural gas was strong posting a 1.0% gain on the day.
Source: PFS Group
