The S&P 500 climbed by 0.73% today and the Dow was up 0.39%. Favorable trading in Europe overnight set a positive tone for our markets at the open. Stocked climbed steadily higher throughout the course of the day.
Airlines, semiconductors, consumer staples and financial stocks led the way. Airlines returned to leadership today after they experienced some profit taking late last week. Financial stocks, especially those with capital markets exposure, were higher again today.
Managed care stocks were lower after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed lower 2014 Medicare co-payments. Humana and United Health Group sold off in response to the co-payment news.
Homebuilder sentiment numbers came in below consensus estimates. After a year of steady advances homebuilder sentiment has been unchanged for the past few months. Homebuilding stocks sold off sharply in reaction to the news but closed well off their respective lows.
Financials climbed by close to 1% today. There was heavy demand for large-cap capital markets sensitive names. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley all traded higher on the day.
Industrials outperformed the overall market today. General Electric was up strongly at the open and gained momentum throughout the course of the day. Other multi-line industrials like Honeywell were also stronger. Early cycle industrials like MMM were also higher.
Airline and parcel delivery names were the leaders in the transportation space. Airlines recovered after profit taking last week and they also benefited from an analyst upgrade. UPS led the parcel delivery space with a gain of close to 2%.
A move higher in crude helped the energy sector today. Natural gas climbed by 3.5% after the selloff last week. Oil services, drillers and integrated oil names all traded ahead of the market.
Source: PFS Group
