The first half of today's trading has been very uneventful. The major indices all sit just a couple points above breakeven for the day. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 are all higher by 2 points.
The usually quiet utilities group is a leader on the upside today, along with the healthcare sector.
The utilities sector is being led higher on the day so far by Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), which is higher by 1.54%. Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is higher by 1.82% and Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE) is higher by 2.81% on the day. The utilities don't have any apparent news, but they are certainly showing some nice strength on the day today.
The healthcare sector is continuing to outperform the broader market, just as it did yesterday. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) is higher by 1.01% as the company continues to receive a bid due to speculation about it being a takeover candidate. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) shares are higher by 1.2% thus far today as the company named some new executives. Forest Labs (NYSE:FRX) shares are currently jumping by 3.78% on very strong volume.
Large cap tech stocks are an area of some weakness thus far today. Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) is lower by 1.05% on heavy volume. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is lower by 1.26% despite being started as an outperform at Wachovia today. Chip stocks continue to be a real area of weakness. KLA Tencor Corporation (Nasdaq:KLAC) is lower by 2.41% and Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT) is lower by 1.39%.
Interestingly enough, the NYSE and the NASDAQ both show 55% of stocks higher and 41% of stocks lower on the day thus far. Volume is quite light, with the Nasdaq not yet at 900 million shares as of 1 pm.
It appears that this is a wait and see game for traders right now as they await tommorrow's important nonfarm payrolls number. The interesting thing is that bulls are looking for a weak number so that their rate cut hopes are buoyed, but too weak of a number could be very bearish for the market.
To view today's story stock post about the troubles at NutriSystem click here.
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