Market Wrap December 29, 2011

Dow Industrials 12287.04 +135.63 +1.12% S&P 500 1263.02 +13.38 +1.07% Nasdaq Comp. 2613.74 +23.76 +0.92% Russell 2000 744.98 +9.77 +1.33%

NYSE Comp. 7485.63 +88.64 +1.20% Nasdaq 100 2285.07 +17.99 +0.79% Dow Transports 5042.29 +68.28 +1.37% Dow Utilities 467.12 +3.84 +0.83%

View Major Index charts

Internals were positive, with volume just slightly lighter. Advances/declines were 15 to 4 on the NYSE and 14 to 5 on the Nasdaq, with up/down volume 10 to 1 on the NYSE (extremes have become commonplace) and 5 to 1 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 111/34 on the NYSE and 33/77 on the Nasdaq.

Leaders — Homebuilders (+3.84%), Banks (+2.11%), Disk Drives (+1.81%), Gold/Silver (+1.75%), Broker Dealers (+1.71%), Biotechs (+1.55%), Hospitals (+1.54%), Commodities (+1.27%)
Laggards — Retailers (+0.61%), Network (+0.61%), Internet (+0.69%), HMOs (+0.74%), Insurance (+0.76%), Drugs (+0.76%), Utilities (+0.79%), Comp. Tech (+0.85%)

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

Treasury Yields — 6-Month : 0.06 %,  2-Year : 0.27 %,  5-Year : 0.88 %,  10-Year : 1.90 %,  30-Year : 2.90 %

Energy Prices — Crude oil: $99.68/barrel,  Gasoline: $2.68/gallon,  Natural Gas: $3.04/mmBTU

US Dollar Index — 80.359

Precious Metals — Gold: $1546.40/ounce,  Silver: $27.86/ounce,  Platinum: $1370.00/ounce

BMB Note:  
After yesterday’s slump, a push right back up today as everybody tries to ‘make their year’, or at least ‘protect’ it at this point.

Whatever. Let’s get this holiday crap over with. Not that it’s been much different than the past 3-4 months. Market’s open tomorrow, then closed on Monday, the 2nd.

Heavy Metals December 29, 2011

While the longer-term charts of gold and silver still look ok (for now), the short-term breakdown continues.

Market Wrap December 28, 2011

Dow Industrials 12151.41 -139.94 -1.14% S&P 500 1249.64 -15.79 -1.25% Nasdaq Comp. 2589.98 -35.22 -1.34% Russell 2000 735.21 -16.10 -2.14%

NYSE Comp. 7396.99 -111.38 -1.48% Nasdaq 100 2267.08 -26.04 -1.14% Dow Transports 4974.06 -80.37 -1.59% Dow Utilities 463.28 -3.30 -0.71%

View Major Index charts

Internals were negative, with volume a bit heavier. Advances/declines were 2 to 7 on the NYSE and 1 to 4 on the Nasdaq, with up/down volume 1 to 19 on the NYSE and 1 to 10 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 115/46 on the NYSE and 27/77 on the Nasdaq.

Leaders — Paper (-0.58%), Utilities (-0.61%), Drugs (-0.90%), Comp. Tech (-0.99%), Health Care Products (-0.99%), Biotechs (-1.01%), Insurance (-1.07%), Retailers (-1.07%)
Laggards — Metals (-3.72%), Gold/Silver (-3.46%), Oil Services (-2.40%), Disk Drives (-2.23%), Airlines (-2.23%), Commodities (-2.22%), Network (-2.20%), HMOs (-2.18%)

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

Treasury Yields — 6-Month : 0.05 %,  2-Year : 0.27 %,  5-Year : 0.91 %,  10-Year : 1.92 %,  30-Year : 2.92 %

Energy Prices — Crude oil: $99.55/barrel,  Gasoline: $2.65/gallon,  Natural Gas: $3.08/mmBTU

US Dollar Index — 80.506

Precious Metals — Gold: $1554.00/ounce,  Silver: $27.07/ounce,  Platinum: $1380.00/ounce

BMB Note:  
Another snoozer today, though this one leaked lower. Nothing major yet — the indices gave back a day or two of ‘holiday’ gains. You can go back to sleep.

Making Sense Of Trillions December 28, 2011

Rick Santelli’s Math Lesson

Link from Larry Doyle at Sense On Cents.

The Beast December 27, 2011

“When Finance Hijacked Our Economy”

Occupy Wall Street was able to hit the nerve, but may not have known it at the time. The protesters in Zuccotti Park and around the country demonized capitalism but largely ignored finance, the real name of the beast.

Look at the ads that Wall Street firms splash across financial magazines. They have one theme: We help businesses get richer with our financial skills. Really? You see, they have to spend millions to convince you they really are trying to help businesses when most of the profits are coming from proprietary trading and making bets with other traders. This way you, the uninformed public, will look like capitalist hating communists by raising any criticism of good-natured finance professionals just trying to keep America moving forward.

This is a lie. No one ever built a bridge from proprietary trading. Goldman bankers taking home a $5 million bonus doesn’t do anything to prepare America for a globalized world. All financial activity is not the same – and it’s O.K. to say that some is destructive and not own a copy of The Little Red Book.

So speak out. Demand financial companies return to their prime directive – helping American businesses grow and every day citizens prosper.

Link from Scott Bleier on Twitter.

Market Wrap December 27, 2011

Dow Industrials 12291.35 -2.65 -0.02% S&P 500 1265.43 +0.10 +0.01% Nasdaq Comp. 2625.20 +6.56 +0.25% Russell 2000 751.31 +3.33 +0.45%

NYSE Comp. 7508.37 -10.29 -0.14% Nasdaq 100 2293.12 +5.55 +0.24% Dow Transports 5054.43 +1.14 +0.02% Dow Utilities 466.58 +3.64 +0.79%

View Major Index charts

Internals were mixed, with volume better than Friday, but not by much. Advances/declines were just above the flat line on the NYSE and just below it on the Nasdaq, with up/down volume 2 to 3 on the NYSE but a positive 11 to 8 on the Nasdaq. New highs/lows were 213/21 on the NYSE and 59/56 on the Nasdaq.

Leaders — Biotechs (+0.92%), Utilities (+0.80%), Paper (+0.52%), REITs (+0.48%), Oil (+0.43%), Transport (+0.30%), Telecoms (+0.28%), Internet (+0.27%)
Laggards — Airlines (-1.82%), Gold/Silver (-1.33%), Metals (-1.32%), Broker Dealers (-1.29%), Disk Drives (-1.25%), Banks (-0.88%), Comp. Hardware (-0.81%), Homebuilders (-0.47%)

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

Treasury Yields — 6-Month : 0.05 %,  2-Year : 0.29 %,  5-Year : 0.96 %,  10-Year : 2.00 %,  30-Year : 3.03 %

Energy Prices — Crude oil: $101.34/barrel,  Gasoline: $2.68/gallon,  Natural Gas: $3.12/mmBTU

US Dollar Index — 79.815

Precious Metals — Gold: $1593.20/ounce,  Silver: $28.73/ounce,  Platinum: $1433.00/ounce

BMB Note:  

Looks like a holiday week, doesn’t it?

Predictions December 27, 2011

Not my own. I don’t bother with ‘predictions’, since they’re not worth the pixels they’re printed on (no one cares what I think anyway, and I can’t blame them). And I don’t really understand why so many others seem compelled to make them.

But, for lack of any other interesting stuff to post this week, here are some. Take ‘em or leave ‘em:

Bruce Krasting: “2012 – Things that will happen”

Doug Kass: “Kass: 15 Surprises for 2012″

What’s Hot, What’s Not December 26, 2011

• You can take a quick look through a bunch of group charts here: set #1 — set #2 — set #3 — set #4.
• For a more detailed breakdown of group movement over various time periods, try the Industry Group Tracker at WSJ Online, the industry group tools at Finviz.com, or the list of Morningstar industry groups at FreeStockCharts.com.

 

Best Performing Industries
Last Week	Last 4 Weeks	Last 8 Weeks	Year To Date
Hospitals ($RXH) +6.2%	Housing ($HGX) +14.9%	HMOs ($HMO) +5.7%	HMOs +38.2%
Banks ($BKX) +5.9%	Banks +14.4%	Housing +4.7%	Utilities ($UTY) +13.7%
Housing +5.8%	Steel ($DJUSST) +13.9%	Drugs ($DRG) +2.7%	Retail (XRT) +10.3%
Oil ($XOI) +5.4%	REITs ($DJR) +12.0%	Utilities +2.5%	Drugs +9.0%
HMOs +5.3%	Drugs +11.7%	Hospitals +1.5%	Natural Gas ($XNG) +6.0%

 

 

Worst Performing Industries
Last Week	Last 4 Weeks	Last 8 Weeks	Year To Date
Airlines ($XAL) -4.3%	Gold & Silver ($XAU) -1.3%	Metals & Mining (XME) -14.0%	Brokers ($XBD) -30.2%
Software ($GSO) -1.9%	Software +2.4%	Networking ($NWX) -12.0%	Airlines -28.0%
Disk Drives ($DDX) -0.1%	Oil Services ($OSX) +5.0%	Brokers -11.4%	Metals & Mining -26.4%
Gold & Silver +1.0%	Natural Gas +5.4%	Biotech ($BTK) -11.3%	Disk Drives -23.7%
Comp. Tech. ($XCI) +1.4%	Networking +5.6%	Software -11.2%	Banks -23.5%

Weekend Sector Scan December 26, 2011

Stocks got a Christmas ‘pop’ this week, helped by yet more money injections, this time from the ECB. Still, the more ‘defensive’ of the sector SPDRs (Staples, Health Care, Utilities) are leading the way:

 

 

The numbers entering the last trading week of the year:

 

Sector	Symbol	8 Week % Chg.	4 Week % Chg.	1 Week % Chg.	YTD % Chg.
Consumer Staples	XLP	+3.4	+7.2	+3.4	+11.1
Utilities	XLU	+2.3	+7.1	+3.6	+14.2
Health Care	XLV	+1.7	+9.7	+4.2	+10.5
Industrials	XLI	-0.5	+9.4	+4.3	-2.2
Consumer Discretionary	XLY	-1.1	+7.8	+3.4	+4.7
Technology	XLK	-3.5	+6.5	+2.3	+1.5
Energy	XLE	-4.7	+9.0	+5.2	+2.0
Basic Materials	XLB	-5.8	+8.0	+4.2	-11.7
Financials	XLF	-6.4	+11.6	+4.9	-17.6

 

Charts courtesy of StockCharts.com

Christmas Cheer – Mannheim Steamroller December 25, 2011

More Christmas selections, this time from Mannheim Steamroller. If you’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying their Christmas concert live, see if you can’t catch it sometime. Pretty neat stuff.

Luckily, you can still enjoy their Christmas music from the comfort of your easy chair:

 

“Deck The Halls”

 

“We Three Kings”

 

“Good King Wenceslas”

 

“Wassail, Wassail”

 

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”