The Dow rose 0.12% and the S&P 500 was higher by 0.25%. There was a continued move into some cyclical stocks today as large-cap tech titans, Apple and Microsoft, moved higher. There has been a slight rotation out of some of the large pharmaceutical stocks after their big upward move. The averages were led by technology, airlines, and retail while homebuilders and healthcare lagged.
The Chicago PMI was the latest regional survey to disappoint today. Tomorrow the manufacturing ISM will come out. The April PMI came in at 49 against a consensus estimate of 52. The February Case Schiller 20 city real estate index came in above expectations. The index rose by 1.2% in February and 9.3% year-over-year. This was the largest monthly increase during the housing market recovery. Consumer Confidence was much better than expected with a reading of 68.1 against an estimate of 61.0.
Financials slightly outperformed the market. Brokers and asset managers were bought again today. There were no earnings reports in the area, investors are just buying the names as it is obvious that assets under management are increasing in the strong market.
Technology had another 1% day with little in the way of news flow to drive the sector. Apple continues to work higher post its earnings announcement from last week. IBM sold off sharply when they issued quarterly earnings. The stock has bounced back over the past week. Today IBM moved higher after announcing an increase in their share buyback program and dividend.
Energy moved slightly higher than the broad market. Crude traded lower by 1.5% and natural gas was off by 1%. Refiners were hurt by lower crack spreads. BP moved higher by better than 2% on earnings.
Source: PFS Group
