The market made an attempt to continue to rally higher. But it turned weak in the afternoon. Steel and agriculture stocks were still strong. Solar plays saw some profit-taking after the morning rise. The Dow closed up +3.01 points; SPX added +2.14 points; Nasdaq lost 6.15 points.

Here’s how the market closed;

Commodities were stronger today: USO (oil) +2.42%, UNG (natural gas) + 3.8%, GLD (gold) +1.02%, SLV (silver) +1.9%. PBW (clean energy) lost 2.26% as people locked in last week’s profit. FXI (Chinese ADRs) gained +2.32%.

SPX

SPX added +2.14 points to close at 1372.54. It almost caught up with its daily upper BB intraday, but, settled for a small gain. However, its daily MAs and MACD all went higher.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq lost 6.15 points to close at 2364.83. It’s daily MAs and MACD continued higher.

After the big jump on Tuesday last week, the market basically traded flat for the past 4 sessions. The market attempted to go higher along the daily upper BB, but was not able to stick to it today. The financials closed on the postive side although the gains weren’t huge. We’ll have to see whether the market can make another attempt to catch the daily upper BB tomorrow.

This morning, LIFC agreed to be bought by Kinetic Concepts for $1.7 billion in cash. Its shares jumped +16.94%. AAPL was upgraded by Thomas Weisel Partners and its shares reached almost $160. It came back to close at $155.89, up only +1.84%. BG continued to recover from the recent weakness and traded almost to $105. It closed at $102.87, up +6.72%. CLF made another new all-time high today at $142.76. It closed at $141.42, adding +2.98%. X also recorded a new all-time high at $148.08. It closed at $143.72, up +2.15%. After the market, AA reported earnings below the average estimates, but the company seemed to be optimistic looking forward. Its shares traded flat in AH trading.

Good night and HappyTrading! ™