10Aug2015 Market Close: Averages Close Up Over One Percentage Point, Oil Climbs 4%, U.S. Dollar Lower (But Steady), Investors Worry More and Buy Less

Written by Gary

Averages closed higher with the DOW at 242, $RUT at +1.31% and SPY up 1.29%. Most of the markets action was at the opening and melted up fractionally during the afternoon session under very low volume which appears to be HFT manipulation antics.

Oil climbed almost 4 percent today after a rally in U.S. gasoline and diesel apparently due to a refinery outage that helped crude futures advance from multi-month lows.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

Other analysts believe that U.S. stocks climbed today boosted by gains in energy and materials shares and optimism over Warren Buffett’s latest deal.

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said today that the Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates should come soon. But as the market moves higher, investors have become more and more neutral, meaning less bullish according to the American Association of Individual Investors.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Crude oil rebounds along with U.S. gasoline, weaker dollar helps NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil jumped almost 4 percent on Monday after a rally in U.S. gasoline and diesel due to a refinery outage helped crude futures advance from multi-month lows.
	Apple’s Upgraded Prospects for the iPhone Apple may have a hard time exceeding the blockbuster sales of the iPhone 6, but new plans from carriers could help.
	Shire steps up drive to get Baxalta talking after $30 billion bid LONDON (Reuters) – Shire Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov is stepping up his campaign to get Baxalta to the negotiating table as he pushes the benefits a $30 billion takeover offer to the U.S. biotech company’s shareholders.
	Wall St. rises with energy, materials; Berkshire deal a boost (Reuters) – U.S. stocks climbed on Monday, bouncing back sharply from last week’s losses, boosted by gains in energy and materials shares and optimism over Warren Buffett’s latest deal.
	Energy Enervates S&P 500 The S&P 500 stock index looks much better without the struggling energy sector.
	Fed ‘close’ to hiking rates, economy near normal: Lockhart ATLANTA (Reuters) – Economic conditions in the United States have largely returned to normal and a Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates should come soon, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday.
	Buffett pays high price for Precision Castparts (Reuters) – Warren Buffett is paying a hefty price for the biggest bet of his career as his Berkshire Hathaway Inc has agreed to buy Precision Castparts Corp , valuing the maker of aerospace and other parts at $32.3 billion.
	Something’s Happened To Investor Sentiment Since The Financial Crisis Submitted by Callum Thomas via AMP Capital, The US bull market is the most ‘neutral’ bull market on record. Past examples say this could be bullish, but the absence of bearishness is a complicating factor. One trend I previously highlighted is the increasing neutrality of investors in the investor sentiment surveys (with a focus on the Investors Intelligence [II] and the American Association of Individual Investors [AAII] in this analysis). As the market moves higher, investors have become more and more neutral. My suspicion is that there is an element of psychological scarring from the GFC as investors suspect the next GFC could come at any moment – a heightened sensitivity or aversion to bubbles. So investors resist being bullish, and in the context of a rising market where things are gradually improving they don’t want to be bearish either – so neutral is the place to be. So what? What happened in the past when investors were this neutral? Well, the problem is they have never been this neutral, so it’s hard to answer that question. We saw a ri …
	Greece and lenders in final push to seal new bailout ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece and its international creditors sought to put final touches to a multi-billion euro bailout accord on Monday to keep the country financially afloat and meet an important debt repayment to the European Central Bank within days.
	Beware 1200 On The Russell – Breadth Breakdown Is Big Risk To Small Caps, BofA Warns The US equity market struggled last week but the S&P 500 held the rising 200-day MA once again, but as BofAML notes, the much broader-based NYSE stalled at 200-day MA resistance last week. The NYSE has a potential head and shoulders top as well as a breakdown for the NYSE stocks only advance-decline line through the March low. Similar to the NYSE Comp, the Russell 2000 also shows a potential head and shoulders top with a breadth breakdown a big risk to 1200 support… Via BofAML, NYSE: 200dma holds as resistance; Big support = 10,600 Unlike the S&P 500, which held its 200-day MA as support last week, the NYSE stalled at 200-day MA resistance last week. The NYSE has a potential head and shoulders top as well as a breakdown for the NYSE stocks only advance-decline line through the March low. This breakdown for breadth is a potential leading indicator for a breakdown in the index below its early July and March lows at 10,659-10,622 toward 10,060-9886 (projection and October 2014 low). It would take a move above 11,032-11,170 to improve the pattern. Russell 2000: A-D breakdown is risk to big 1200 support Similar to the NYSE Comp, the Russell 2000 also shows a potential head and shoulders top. After holding its 200-day MA in late July, the Russell 2000 broke and closed below this important longer-term moving average on Thursday and Friday. This coincides with a fresh break to new lows on the small cap advance-decline line and places big Russell 2000 support at 1212-1206 or 1200 at …
	Well: Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets The company supports a new nonprofit, the Global Energy Balance Network, that promotes a “science-based” approach to weight control: Get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories.