Friends
Today was a tale of two markets. On the one hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed a very nice day with the average dancing along with a triple digit gain throughout most of the day. On the other hand, NASDAQ was down big all day long, led by major pullbacks in both Apple and Google. It seems that we have finally broken away from the “Apple and nothing else” mentality, as over the past week Apple shares have fallen some 64 or so points which represents a pullback of about 10%. I like to see the market be able to survive without Apple, as the past few months had become a one decision market. It would be much healthier to have better participation across the board.
On the economic front, we got a good retail sales number this morning, but the Empire State manufacturing report was somewhat disappointing. We’ll call it a wash. Tomorrow we’ll get housing starts and industrial production numbers along with a host of individual corporate earnings reports.
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day with a gain of 71 points to close at 12,921. The S&P 500, also influenced by Apple, did not fare as well showing a small loss of less than a point to close at 1369. Gold was down $7 for the day to trade near $1653 per ounce. Oil was up $.24 to close near $103.06 per barrel WTI.
Can this market work its way higher without Apple, Google, Chipotle, Priceline and other high flyers leading the way? Are we experiencing a rotation in leadership or is this just a temporary pause before these previous leaders resume their advance? It should be an interesting next couple of weeks. We’ll keep you informed.
Have a nice evening everyone.
