25Feb2016 Market Close: SP500 Closes At Major Resistance On Light Volume, WTI Settles At Low 33's, Tomorrow Is Going To Be A Roll Of The Dice

Written by Gary

US markets did an interesting melting up after diving to the morning lows at the opening. The DOW and Spooz climbed right up to their respective major resistances’ (16,700 & 1950) and then closed on light green volume. We have seen this before when few thought the markets could go any higher because of this or that bearish indicator, and they did. Well, here we are again. Is this time different?

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Apple files arguments in court opposing FBI iPhone request (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Thursday doubled down on its resistance to the U.S. government’s attempt to force it to unlock an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, arguing for the dismissal of a court order compelling it to act on the grounds that it would violate its free speech rights and blur the lines between courts and Congress.
	U.S. judge turns up heat on VW with March emissions fix deadline (Reuters) – A federal judge turned up the heat on Volkswagen AG on Thursday, setting a March deadline for the German automaker to state whether it has found an emissions fix for 600,000 diesel vehicles that is acceptable to U.S. regulators.
	Best Buy forecast misses expectations (Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc forecast current-quarter sales and profit below analysts’ estimates as the biggest U.S. consumer electronics retailer by store count struggles with falling sales of mobile devices.
	New York judge grants request to depose Viacom CEO (Reuters) – Viacom Inc Chief Executive Philippe Dauman’s lawyers failed to persuade a New York judge to quash his deposition in a high-profile lawsuit over media mogul Sumner Redstone’s mental competency.
	Halliburton to slash 5,000 more jobs amid oil slump (Reuters) – Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co , pressured by a prolonged slump in crude oil prices, will further slash its workforce by about 8 percent, or by 5,000 jobs, company spokeswoman Emily Mir told Reuters on Thursday.
	Wall Street trundles higher as battered investors eye support (Reuters) – Wall Street gained on Thursday as strong U.S. manufacturing data pointed to a recovery in the struggling sector and some investors saw opportunities after weeks of volatility.
	Buffett annual letter comes amid ‘conspicuous’ performance lag NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warren Buffett will release his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders after a year when its stock price lagged the broader market by the most since 2009, adding to years of underperformance.
	Sturm Ruger sees more gun demand if Democrat is next president SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Sturm Ruger & Co expects a lift in demand for its firearms if a Democrat wins this year’s presidential election and becomes positioned to appoint future Supreme Court Justices, the company’s CEO said on Thursday.
	“Broken” Bond Market Sparks Farcical Oil & Stock Buying Scramble Extremely not suitable for work… It just seemed like one of those days… This was yesterday… And this is today… Everything was fine, treading water… weaknes after weak data and oil lower… AND THEN NY Fed cancelled the 7Y auction and all hell broke loose… Unleashing another epic short squeeze… Another spell of ovenight weakness in futures that was gobbled up at the EU open and US open…Futures were ramped to the highs on Monday, and ran those stops
	Prepare To See Many More Ads Like This One “It’s not fair.” No one told us that these investments could lose money… where’s my lawyer? h/t bringsjohn One wonders how long before this issues becomes mainstream and Hillary and Sanders argue over who will bailout energy investors the fastest…
	Apple Responds To The Government: “No Court Has Ever Authorized What The Government Seeks” Moments ago, as part of the ongoing feud between the FBI and Apple over the question of whether or not the US government should be allowed to have a backdoor hack into every iPhone, the Cupertino company filed a 65 page brief in the matter of the “search of the seized iPhone”. As can be seen in the full filing presented below, Apple argues that the government’s request is “unprecedented” and violates the company’s First Amendment rights. “This case is not a case about one isolated iPhone,” Apple said in the filing, reiterating previous comments. Here are some of the key comments: This is not a case about one isolated iPhone. Rather, this case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe. The government demands that Apple create a back door to defeat the encryption on the iPhone, making its users’ most confidential and personal information vulnerable to hackers, identity thieves, hostile foreign agents, and unwarranted government surveillance. The All Writs Act, first enacted in 1789 and on which the government bases its entire case, œdoes not give the district court a roving commission to conscript and commandeer Apple in this manner. Plum Creek Lumber Co. v. Hutton, 608 F.2d 1283, 1289 (9th Cir. 1979). In fact, no court has ever authorized what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimited and sweeping use of the judicial process, and the Constitution forbids it. That’s all great, but how is any of this different from the access the NSA already has to all digital communication technology? Apple continues:< …
	U.S. Stocks Climb, Along With Oil Prices U.S. stocks rose along with oil prices Thursday, as beaten-down financial companies also gained.
	Oil Prices Turn Positive on Cutback Hopes Oil prices shook off losses Thursday and ended the day with a gain after Venezuela’s oil minister said his country would meet with other top global producers to discuss efforts to stabilize the market.
	A Big Bet on Gold Is Getting Crowded From Mark Cuban to day traders, investors are piling into derivatives on a popular exchange-traded fund that stand to win big if the metal keeps climbing.
	Bond Report: Treasury yields close lower despite oil rebound Treasury prices inched higher, pushing yields slightly lower, on Thursday as U.S. government bond investors continued to use falling oil prices as a signal to shun assets viewed as risky.
	The Wall Street Journal: Goldman struggling to sell $2 billion in bonds backing Solera buyout Goldman Sachs Group is struggling to sell some $2 billion in bonds used to fund a buyout of Solera Holdings, as it grows more difficult for heavily indebted companies to borrow.