Like the previous day, stocks meandered through another choppy, range-bound session of trading yesterday, but morning strength still enabled most of the major indices to close in positive territory yesterday. The major indices sold off on the open, reversed to move higher in the morning, then oscillated in a sideways to lower range throughout the rest of the day. By the closing bell, all the main stock market indexes except the Russell 2000 finished in the black. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.1%, the S&P 500 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.3%. Gaining 0.7%, the S&P Midcap 400 kept pace with the rest of the market, but the small-cap Russell 2000 slipped 0.4%. Showing relative strength, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials finished near their best levels of the day. The rest of the major indices closed in the upper third of their intraday ranges.

Total volume in the NYSE decreased 48% below the previous day's level, while trading in the Nasdaq similarly eased 42%. Although last Friday's volume levels were artificially inflated by the rebalancing of the Russell indexes, turnover across the board was still much lighter than average. In both exchanges, volume slowed to its lowest level of the past few weeks. Since the stock market is closed for a holiday this Friday, traders will probably start closing up shop on Thursday. This means trading could very easily remain below average levels until at least next week. Because light volume markets are notorious for being choppy and indecisive, an extra ounce of caution is suggested until after the holiday weekend has passed.

We continue to be focused on the newfound resilience and relative strength of the healthcare sector. Yesterday, iShares Nasdaq Biotech (IBB), which we're presently long, sold off to a 1.7% loss in the morning, alongside of broad market weakness, but reversed to close slightly higher. Even better was the performance of the Pharmaceutical HOLDR (PPH), which broke out above a key area of horizontal price resistance. Below is an updated daily chart of PPH, which we first analyzed in our June 26 commentary:

CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling (FXB), which tracks the price of the British Pound to the U.S. dollar, was in a protracted downtrend that began in late 2007, and technically ended at the beginning of last month. Over the past month, FXB has been consolidating in a tight, sideways range, holding firmly above support of its 20-day exponential moving average (EMA). In the coming days, we're stalking FXB for a potential breakout above the high of the range.