We certainly had another up-day, but it all came in the last 20 minutes or so. The market opened lower in the morning, rallied steadily until mid-day to new highs, getting up to 1007 on the S&P 500. The indices then rolled over, but the SPX managed to hold 1000 three times in the afternoon, while the NDX also held support around the 1618 area, near the morning lows. A last 20-minute short-covering frenzy took the market up sharply and they closed in the plus column.
Net on the day the Dow closed up 33.63 to 9320.19, the S&P 500 up 3.02 to 1005.65, and the Nasdaq 100 up just 0.37 at 1628.49. However, that was 12 points off its low.
Advance-declines were 3 to 2 positive on New York and about 4 to 3 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of 1 1/4 billion. Nasdaq traded over 2.1 billion and had a 4 to 3 positive volume ratio.
On the plus side, Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) soared another 3.78 at 65.90, while the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) dropped under 30 for the first time in its history, down 1.92 to 29.74.
The only other point-plus movers on our board were Goldman Sachs ( ), up 1.07 to 165.17, and Mosaic (MOS), down 1.40 at 53.68. The UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) also dropped 1.39 to 13.34, reaching a new all-time low earlier at 13.07.
Among the fractional gainers, most of them junior biotechs: Human Genome Sciences ( ) advanced 73 cents to 14.98 on 22 ½ million shares. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals ( ) was up 41 centsat 9.69, Acadia Pharmaceuticals ( ) up 23 cents to 4.90, Orexigen Therapeutics ( ) up 22 cents to 8.27, and SIGA Technologies ( ) up 22 cents to 7.96.
In addition, Sequenom ( ) rose 76 cents to 6.61 on 14.4 million, a big day. Targacept ( ) gained 85 cents to 11.15, and Vanda Pharmaceuticals ( ) 26 cents to 15.53.
New portfolio position Sonic Solutions ( ) was up 35 cents to 3.94, and Brigham Exploration ( ) closed up 23 cents at 5.45.
On the downside, iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) dropped 77 cents, although the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF (EWZ) gained 44 cents.
Oncothyreon ( ) had a big negative reversal, exploding 1.25 earlier in the session to 7.77, but reversing sharply lower, closing down 60 cents to 5.96 on 8.5 million.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, down at the opening, up the rest of the morning, then down in the afternoon before a late snapback brought them back into the plus column, and they closed positively for the second day in a row this week. The rally refuses to give way, and support continues to hold.
Good trading!
Harry
