The market started out strong today. Although it gave back some gains in the afternoon, it managed to close in the green. Gold rallied today to above $1130/ounce. Miners led the market. Besides the gold miners, coal stocks were also very strong. WLT made a new 52-week high, closing at $84.53 and traded above $85/share. CNX, MEE, and ACI were among the top gainers, up +2.96%, +4.09%, and +2.69%, respectively.
This morning, CF made a new offer for TNA at a new $4.74 billion price! TRA shares jumped +10.85%! CF traded as low as $101.33, but bounced back to close at $106.42, only down 1%. It looks like investors are expecting AGU to raise its offer for CF! AGU closed at $66.81, up $0.98. POT and MOS continued to benefit from the "AGU/CF/TRA love-triangle", adding +2.21% and +3.43%, respectively.
The Dow was up +2.19 points; SPX added +2.60 points; Nadsaq gained +7.22 points:
XME (metals and mining) led the market with a +2.67% rise. GDX (gold miners) added +1.95%. OIH (oil services) bounced +1.43%. Both GLD (gold) and SLV (silver) went up. BTK (biotech) contined to make new highs, up +2.18%. MOO (agriculture) rose +0.75%. FXI (Chinese ADRs) was up slightly.
SPX
SPX added +2.6 points to close at 118.31, just below the 1120 level. 10-day and 20-day MAs continued to go higher. MACD went up as well.
Nasdaq
Nasdaq gained +7.22 points to close at 2280.79. Its 30-day MA flattened. Its MACD was higher.
As discussed this weekend, the market opened the week with strength, thus far. In addition, SPX tested 1120 today. However, it was not able to close above it. Financials finally participated today with GS coming near the $160 mark. Commodity sectors continued to keep the market up, as the dollar wavered. Tech stocks will draw buyers in as long as the overall market is strong. But, so far, techs have not completely taken over the leadership role. The market has rallied for 4 days on this leg and may need to take a breather before the new jobs data on Thursday and Friday.
As an additional note, biotechs just keep pushing higher with BTK (biotech index) making consecutive, new all-time highs. MDVN announced a teleconference and webcast at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to discuss new trial results on its Alzheimer's Disease drug. This should be interesting. MDVN has already jumped from $36 to $40 in the past 2 days. The premiums on the options are incredible as investors price in the possibility of MDVN going above $70/share before the month ends!
Good night and HappyTrading! ™
