The major indices all finished higher today, beginning the week on a rather strong note. The Dow ended up 63.56. The Nasdaq was higher by 13.25. The S&P 500 closed higher by 5.7, or 0.37%. The hopes that the FOMC meeting this week will deliver a rate cut seemed to be the main reason for the strength today. 
The energy, basic material, and retail stocks led the way higher today.
Petrochina Company Limited (NYSE:PTR) rose 3.18% as foreign oil stocks showed significant strength again. CNOOC Limited (NYSE:CEO) soared 7.47% and hit a new 52 week high today. Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) charged higher by 4.52% on double its average volume.
Potash Corporation (NYSE:POT) shares gained 4.11% to lead the basic materials sector higher today. Weyerhauser Company (NYSE:WY) shares saw a huge rise of 8.06% today after a Barron's article from the weekend spoke positively about the company. Gold stocks were also higher today with Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) gaining 4.02% and Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) gaining 4.29% today.
Retailers were widely higher on the day as investors picked up the shares of retailer ahead of the expected Fed cut later this week. American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) rose 4.08% today. Costco Wholesale Corporation (Nasdaq:COST) shares gained 2.24%. The Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) gained 1.67% as part of a strong retail grocers group today.
Notable 52 Week Highs
- VMWare Inc. (NYSE:VMW) Shares rose 7.75% on news that the U.S. Marines are deploying VMware software.
- Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) Gained 3.34% today, GS has stood out as the clear leader in the investment banking industry in stock performance of late.
- DryShips (Nasdaq:DRYS) This apparently is the stock that will not quit despite many naysayers. The stock rose today again by over 6%.
- The Charles Schwab Corporation (Nasdaq:SCHW) Gained 2.51% today. I must admit this one really surprised me when it showed up on my new highs screen.
The strength of the volume during today's uptick was split. The NYSE saw very light volume, on the order of just over 1.2 billion shares. The NASDAQ on the other hand saw pretty strong volume of just about 2.1 billion shares. The NYSE has a much better ratio of new highs to new lows though, at about 3 to 1, versus less than 2 to 1 on the NASDAQ.
The action is likely to heat up quite a bit as we go through the week, with a large number of earnings reports due in. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up looking back on today's trading action as being the least volatile trading session of the week.
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