What a start to the fourth quarter for the stock market. Stocks started the day with very small gains and consistently built on those gains as the day went on. The Dow closed higher by 192 points. The Nasdaq gained 39 on the day, while the S&P 500 gained 20, or 1.33%. The Dow closed at an all-time high of 14,087.55. The Nasdaq finished at its highest level in 6 1/2 years.
Today's amazing performance by the major indices was pretty broadbased, with all the major sectors participating quite nicely.
Basic materials, as they have been so often of late, were the biggest gainers today. Freeport McMoran (NYSE:FCX) surged by 6% today, as the copper and gold producers fared very well in today's trading. BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) shares gained 4.17% on the session, reaching a new all-time high. Iron and steel stocks also did well on the session, with Allegheny Technologies (NYSE:ATI) leading the way with a 3.03% gain.
Financials were also strong on the day today. Citigroup (NYSE:C) shares actually gained 2.25% despite announcing that third quarter earnings will fall by 60 percent. The company said that the fall is attributable to the fixed-income fiasco from the 3rd quarter and that it expects the fourth quarter to bring much better results. Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) led the brokerage group higher on the day, gaining 3.77%. Allstate (NYSE:ALL) rose 2.03% as part of a strong insurance group.
The capital goods sector showed impressive strength on the day today. The homebuilders had a rare very strong day today after Citigroup upgraded the group. Pulte Homes (NYSE:PHM) shares gained 8.67% on double their normal volume today. Centex Corporation (NYSE:CTX) gained 5.08% and DR Horton (NYSE:DHI) gained 5.07% today.
Since there were so many 52 week highs, let's get to a list of notable new highs on the exchanges today.
Notable New 52 week highs
- General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares gained 1.5% on the day.
- Apple Inc (Nasdaq:AAPL) shares gained 1.87% on the day.
- McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) shares gained 2.83% today. MCD has basically moved in a straight line from 48 to 56 in the past month.
- ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) gained 1.5% today.
- 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) gained 1.24% today. MMM is a new name on the 52 week high list, unlike several of the others on today's list.
- Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) gained 7.23% on four times its normal daily volume.
- Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) gained 4.89% on astounding volume today of nearly 10 times its normal volume.
The internals of the market were pretty strong, as one might expect on a day like today. The most impressive number was the new highs list, which included 261 stocks on the NYSE and 188 on the NASDAQ. The volume was pretty strong today, with the Nasdaq ending right at 2 billion shares traded.
CNBC reported an interesting fact today that 7 of the past 8 first day of the quarters have resulted in gains by the stock market. Should we chalk up today's gains to it simply being the first day of the quarter or was this something more significant and long lasting?
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