Written by Gary
Market Close Commentary For 02-05-2015
Gary is out of the office this afternoon. Market Close is brought to you by our content partners Investing.com.
U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Health Care and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.20%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.03%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which rose 3.06% or 2.26 points to trade at 76.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 2.87% or 0.92 points to end at 32.99 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 2.61% or 6.91 points to 271.80 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 0.13% or 0.06 points to trade at 47.86 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.20% or 0.12 points to end at 59.17 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 0.26% or 0.11 points to 41.79.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Hospira Inc (NYSE:HSP) which rose 35.25% to 87.64, Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) which was up 8.89% to settle at 72.03 and Denbury Resources Inc (NYSE:DNR) which gained 8.55% to close at 8.89.
The worst performers were Teradata Corporation (NYSE:TDC) which was down 10.20% to 42.19 in late trade, Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU) which lost 5.72% to settle at 75.32 and Twenty-First Century Fox A Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) which was down 5.37% to 32.80 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were QKL Stores Inc (NASDAQ:QKLS) which rose 79.58% to 3.060, E2open Inc (NASDAQ:EOPN) which was up 39.77% to settle at 8.540 and Glu Mobile Inc (NASDAQ:GLUU) which gained 30.73% to close at 5.02.
The worst performers were QuickLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:QUIK) which was down 25.26% to 2.19 in late trade, Adept Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ADEP) which lost 19.13% to settle at 7.06 and FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE) which was down 18.18% to 0.090 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2303 to 492; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2074 rose and 699 declined, while 4 ended unchanged.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.91% to 16.88.
Gold for April delivery was up 0.09% or 1.20 to $1265.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 4.54% or 2.20 to hit $50.65 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 4.40% or 2.38 to trade at $56.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.22% to 1.1482, while USD/JPY rose 0.21% to 117.52.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.97% at 93.66.
Our medium term indicators are leaning towards sell portfolio of non-performers at the midday and the session market direction meter (for day traders) is 98 % bearish (complete reversal from yesterday’s 100% bullish). We remain mostly conservatively bullish, but with a bearish slant. I am very concerned any downtrend could get very aggressive in the short-term and any volatility may also promote sudden reversals that will only please the day traders. The SP500 MACD has turned up, but remains below zero at -2.94. I would advise caution in taking any position during this period and I hope you have returned your ‘dogs’ to the pound.
Having some cash on hand now is not a bad strategy as market changes are happening everyday. As of now, I do see some leading indicators that are warning of a ‘long-term’ reversal within six months. I believe one is most likely to occur later in 2015, but any market fluctuations we see now are more of a internal market rectification than a bear market.
Investing.com members’ sentiments are 46 % Bearish.
CNN’s Fear & Greed Index is 46. Above 50 = greed, below 50 = fear. (At ‘Near Neutral‘) (Chart Here)
The markets are still susceptible to climbing on ‘Bernankellen’ vapor, use caution!
“Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation inequities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett
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Written by Gary
