Stocks held up quite nicely today considering the huge run they have had the last couple of days. The Dow gained 22 points today. The Nasdaq rose by 5 points on the day. The broader S&P 500 gained a little less than one point. The sector picture was a mixed one, with very few groups making significant moves today.
Large cap technology stocks were notable winners today as they extended their 
winning streak. VMWare (NYSE:VMW) gained 3.6% on above-average volume. It has gained almost 20 points in the past 3 trading sessions. Baidu.com Inc. (Nasdaq:BIDU) continued its impressive run, charging another 3.33% higher today. Solar stocks were true standouts today, charging higher on news of the busted oil pipeline in Minnesota. First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) jumped 10.33% and hit a new all-time high today. Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) gained 4.71% and MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR) gained 2.67% as part of that solar play today.
Energy stocks were higher for the most part today, but just moderately so. Crude oil rose today after the news of the busted pipelines in Minnesota worried traders. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) gained 1.42% today as the major oils showed a little strength. Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) shares rose by 2.63% on strong volume. Some of the equipment and drilling companies showed some more significant gains today. National-Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) shares surged by 4.79%. Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT) shares rose by 2.43% on strong volume.
Financials gave back a little bit of ground after yesterday's massive rally, but in most cases the losses were contained very well. Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) was one of the weakest stocks in the financial industry after an analyst cut her ratings on the stock. Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) gave up 3.15% today, but it did so on fairly light volume. Principal Financial (NYSE:PFG) plunged 8.05% after slashing its 2008 earnings estimates.
The lack of a selloff today was certainly encouraging for the bulls given the recent tough environment. It is important to note that given our nice gains from the past three days it wouldn't be shocking or a terrible sign if the market does give up some ground sometime in the next two or three days. The telling part of it will be whether or not the selloff is sustained or just a respid in the rally.
As one would expect with a less volatile day like today the volume was lighter on both the NYSE and Nasdaq than it has been of late. It seems that traders were ready for a bit of a breather today after a stunning 8 straight days of the intraday range on the Dow exceeding 200 points. Read that statement again because if you know much at all about the stock market and its average volatility, you understand that that kind of a consistent intraday range doesn't occur often.
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