Friends
Traders were trying to determine where to take their cues today as the domestic economic news was good (durable goods number better than expected and the weekly jobless claims about in line), but the earnings parade was somewhat mixed. The star of the day was the often maligned Facebook, as its shares rocketed higher on a much better than expected earnings report. As for the rest of the market, trading was light and volatility was modest. Of course the other big news of the day was the Federal indictment of SAC Capital, a large and famous hedge fund, for insider trading. As you have heard me complain over the years, we just want a level playing field for all of us. Get the cheaters out (similar sentiments have been expressed in baseball lately, haven’t they?).
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13 points to close at 15,555. The S&P 500 was up 4 points to finish the day at 1690. Gold was up $10 to trade at $1330 per ounce, while oil was up $.30 to trade at $105.69 per barrel WTI. Our challenge for the bulls this week was S&P 1700, but so far they haven’t been up to the challenge. Of course, the bears haven’t gotten anything done either this week.
We’ll attempt to give a snapshot of the earnings season so far in tomorrow’s update, as this week is the busiest in terms of releases. So far we have seen a very quiet week. Heck, digesting the gains from the first couple of weeks of July is not a bad thing. Let’s see how the week ends tomorrow.
