Yesterday's intraday reversal was certainly a bit concerning and scary to some investors, but today brought a nice bounceback. The market basically gained back what it lost yesterday. The Dow gained 78 points today. The Nasdaq was the biggest winner on a percentage basis, gaining 33 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 gained 7 points, or just under .5%. 
Energy stocks were the clear leader in today's market as crude oil prices traded to a new all time high today. This afternoon, crude oil prices traded as high as $84.05 before settling at $83.69 to end the day. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (NYSE:SNP) gained 5.88% on the day to lead the international energy stocks higher. Rowan Companies (NYSE:RDC), the large international driller, gained 3.34% on the day on hevy volume. Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) saw its shares trade higher by 2.5% today. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) gained 2.14%, continuing its recent strong run.
The basic material sector is another sector that just doesn't want to stop moving higher. Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) led the charge higher today, gaining 3.03% and hitting a new 52 week high. The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) gained 3.82% on three times its average daily volume as speculation grew that a transaction may be imminent after the company canceled an investor meeting. Fertilizer stocks continued their recent surge as CF Industries (NYSE:CF) gained 6.66% and Terra Industries (NYSE:TRA) gained 7.81% on the day.
The infrastructure and construction stocks were very strong today as they have been so often recently. Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) charged higher by 3.64%. McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) shares rose by 4.44% today. Foster Wheeler Ltd. (Nasdaq:FWLT) gained 3.7% on the day.
Technology stocks were largely higher on the day, gaining some nice footing a day after driving the market lower in the afternoon. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) shares gained 3.1% today, rebounding from yesterday's tough day. Semiconducter stocks also gained ground after leading tech stocks lower yesterday. News of a cap ex budget hike over at Samsung was music to investors ears as it pertained to semiconducter equipment suppliers. Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT) shares charged higher by 4.57%, while Novellus Systems (Nasdaq:NVLS) gained 4.21%.
Notable 52 Week Highs
- General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) Shares gained 6.65% today to drive the Dow higher. GM shares are amazingly higher by 12 points than they were just one month ago today. Investors clearly are cheering their new deal with the UAW.
- Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV) Shares gained 0.41% today. AV has quietly risen nicely over the past six months.
- Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares gained 3.51% today on strong volume.
- Hologic Inc. (Nasdaq:HOLX) shares gained 2.6% on the day today. On a personal note, I am kicking myself for not purchasing shares of HOLX when it was about 25% lower just a few weeks ago after I even suggested to others it was a great buy. Oops!
- JA Solar Holdings (Nasdaq:JASO) shares gained 8.6% today and have been moving consistently higher of late on very nice volume.
Today's gains came on volume that wasn't too terrible, but it paled in comparison to yesterday's volume. Yesterday the Nasdaq traded 2.6 billion shares, while today it traded 1.9 billion shares. Notably, the new high to new low ratio is not nearly as strong as it was a couple days ago, with new highs outpacing new lows about 1.5 to 1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
Today's gains were certainly a nice way to go into the weekend, but I sure would like to see some follow through next week with the important earnings season ramping up before I become less cautious. The earnings season will be in full swing the next two weeks, with numerous very important companies reporting. If earnings surprise to the upside we could have some more room to run, but if earnings come in below expectations then it would be hard to imagine stocks holding up too much longer.
I did want to alert readers as well that from here on forward I will not be able to write intraday market reports as I have accepted a position to work in the mutual fund research department at a major bank starting Monday. I will still keep the content very fresh on the site, but the 40 hour workweek won't allow me to do market reports nearly as frequently.
If you have any comments as to how I could improve GrowYourFunds please shoot me an email at aaron@growyourfunds.com
Have a great weekend!
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