The S&P 500 added 0.39% today and the Dow was higher by 0.18%. The major averages broke three day losing streaks with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ leading the way.
Our markets were helped at the open from continued good news from Europe. European markets rose 0.80% over night and are up 8% for the quarter. Commodity related issues surged today on better than expected data from China. Chinese trade data led to a huge spike in gold, silver and copper.
The S&P 500 rallied at the open and gave up all of its early gains to go into the red for a short time in the late morning. Stocks regained their footing and closed higher. Transports, technology, and steel outperformed while telecom, banks, and REITs were laggards.
Gold closed near its high today and posted a 2% gain. Silver surged 3.76% and copper gained close to 3%. Natural gas fell in the morning on disappointing storage numbers. News that China may begin to import natural gas from the US led to a rally that moved the commodity higher by more than 2%.
Storage stocks were an area of strength in technology. Microsoft continues to bounce back after its disappointing earnings release. IBM continues to weaken and selling pressure is intensifying in that stock. Semiconductors were weak today.
Industrials were slightly ahead of the tape. The gains today were largely due to the favorable news from China. An improvement in Chinese economic activity would benefit the industrial names.
Airlines and parcels led the transports to a 1% gain. UAL was a leader in the airline space with a gain of better than 2%. Rails were higher across the board. Federal Express gained better than 1% and continues to outperform the general market over the past several weeks.
Consumer discretionary outperformed while the staples were in line with the market. Retail numbers for the past few weeks have varied wildly. Some retailers reported same store sales numbers well in excess of estimates and many have issued disappointing numbers. Costco came under pressure after slightly missing monthly sales estimates. Limited surged higher by 5%.
High flyers Tesla and Groupon soared today on the strength of better than expected earnings. Tesla continues to defy the skeptics. They reported earnings after the close and the stock was 14% higher. Groupn moved higher by better than 20%.
Source: PFS Group
