The market snapped a two day losing streak with a broad based rally to start the week. The S&P 500 climbed by 1.19% and the Dow was higher by 0.76%. Financials, technology and utilities were particularly strong today. Telecom and consumer staples were laggards.
Markets in Asia were strong overnight and helped US markets start the day off strongly. Stocks saw buyers come in aggressively mid-day on reports from Washington that indicated President Obama and Speaker Boehner held productive talks today.
Financials and homebuilders were leaders today. Bank of America continues to perform well with a spike of 5.2%. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were also standouts in the financial sector. Homebuilder Lennar was up just under 4%. DR Horton and Pulte homes were also up substantially on the day.
Analyst upgrades had a positive impact on airlines today. Analyst Dahlman Rose upgraded their outlook on the airlines from neutral to bullish. Many airliners were up over 3% on the day. 17 of the 20 stocks that make up the transportation index were higher today.
Apple computer had a big reversal day today. The stock was off as much as 1.5% intraday and flirted with the $500 level. The stock has found buyers at that level on more than one occasion over the past few weeks. Buyers came in and drove the stock from its low today of 501.23 to a close of 520.16.
Jan crude oil rose $0.38 to $87.13/barrel, Jan natural gas rose 4 cents to $3.36/MMBtu, Jan heating oil fell 2 cents to $2.96/gallon, and Jan RBOB gasoline settled flat at $2.66/gallon.
Crude oil extended Friday's gains as the dollar index retreated to new session lows. The energy component came off its pit session low of $86.70 and traded up to a session high of $87.71. However, prices pulled-back heading into the close, and crude settled with a 0.4% loss. Natural gas advanced for the first time in eight sessions as it lifted off its session low of $3.32. Despite retreating from its session high of $3.39 set in late morning pit action, it booked a 1.2% gain.
Nine of the ten sector ETF’s that represent the S&P 500 were up today and the laggard, consumer staples, was flat. Correlations were higher as there was little stock specific news out today. The primary driver was the perceived advances in fiscal cliff talks in D.C.
Source: PFS Group
