Market Wrap February 7, 2012

Dow Industrials 12878.20 +33.07 +0.26% S&P 500 1347.05 +2.72 +0.20% Nasdaq Comp. 2904.08 +2.09 +0.07% Russell 2000 827.37 -1.00 -0.12%

NYSE Comp. 8069.70 +21.67 +0.27% Nasdaq 100 2532.06 +3.76 +0.15% Dow Transports 5323.33 -10.92 -0.20% Dow Utilities 452.06 +2.11 +0.47%

View Major Index charts

Internals were mixed, volume was light (says the broken record). Advances/declines were 11 to 8 on the NYSE but 9 to 10 on the Nasdaq, with up/down volume flat on the NYSE but 5 to 4 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 157/1 on the NYSE and 94/6 on the Nasdaq.

Leaders — Oil (+1.21%), HMOs (+1.07%), Natural Gas (+0.99%), Drugs (+0.68%), Network (+0.61%), Utilities (+0.57%), Insurance (+0.51%), Retailers (+0.42%)
Laggards — Metals (-1.48%), Biotechs (-1.42%), Paper (-0.69%), Broker Dealers (-0.57%), Gold/Silver (-0.53%), Homebuilders (-0.40%), Airlines (-0.34%), Transport (-0.30%)

An extensive visual representation of the day’s winners and losers can be found at Finviz.com.

Treasury Yields — 6-Month : 0.10 %,  2-Year : 0.25 %,  5-Year : 0.81 %,  10-Year : 1.98 %,  30-Year : 3.15 %

Energy Prices — Crude oil: $98.81/barrel,  Gasoline: $2.93/gallon,  Natural Gas: $2.49/mmBTU

US Dollar Index — 78.578

Precious Metals — Gold: $1746.30/ounce,  Silver: $34.23/ounce,  Platinum: $1648.00/ounce

BMB Note:  
As long as the uptrend remains intact, we’ll continue our approach of nibbling at the long side – waiting for entries, grabbing partial profits if/when offered, and honoring stops.

Screwing Savers February 7, 2012

…and creating problems. But then, we knew that, didn’t we?

Gary K. quotes Charles Schwab:

“The Fed’s Jan. 25 statement that it would keep short-term interest rates near zero until at least late 2014 is sending a signal of crisis, not confidence.”

“Yet the economy doesn’t need life support. Just the opposite. The patient needs to get up and start moving. We could get out of this mess, if only the Fed believed in the free-market system. In free markets, supply and demand find an equilibrium. That’s true whether we’re talking about the supply of grain and housing or cash and credit. But a functioning free market requires confidence that the government isn’t imposing itself unnecessarily in the works, preventing supply and demand from returning to equilibrium.”

GOD BLESS YOU CHARLES SCHWAB. That’s all I’ve got to say. I recommend to each and every one of you to read this op-ed. It’s called the Fed Votes No Confidence. Read the whole thing. It is exactly what I have been telling you for months and months. The Fed is creating problems. They are screwing the saver. They are hurting people. They are telling people to not take as much risk because we’re talking risk down for another two years. That is insanity. And every one of the policies DEFINES future inflation.

To read the whole op-ed without WSJ subscription, go through Google.

Rise Of The Machines February 7, 2012

This is cool. Well, not so cool when you see how machines have taken over our markets…

“Nanex – The Rise of the HFT Machines”

Link from Joe Saluzzi on Twitter.