In one of the narrowest ranging trade sessions of the past year, active traders became frustrated at their inability to act. By the end of the day, the S&P 500 (-0.75 -0.10% to 788.42), DJIA (+3.03% to 7555.63), and NASDAQ Composite (-2.69 -0.18% to 1467.97) were all very quiet.
The big sector winner, Consumer Staples (XLP +0.53%) hardly moved, while the big loser by far was Utilities (XLU -1.51%) was down just a bit.
The Toronto Composite (-202.75 -2.42% to 8175.95) did plunge, while the Venture Board (-3.34 -0.36% to 915.82) pulled back a bit.
Earlier in the day Thursday, at 7:34am ET, the European bourses were quiet. The French CAC (-0.33%), the German DAX (+0.24%), and the UK FTSE 100 (-0.11%) had hardly moved.
Thursday also, the Asia-Pacific equity markets were quiet Australia (+0.92% to 3398.0), Nikkei 225 (+0.31% to 7557.7), Shanghai (+0.78% to 2227.1), Hong Kong (+0.06% to 13023.4), and India’s Sensex BSE 30 (+0.30% to 9042.6) were unremarkable.
Wednesay in NY, there were few groups that made any noise other than Goldminers ($XAU +1.8%) and REITs ($DJR +1.5%).
As for the Cara 100, the winners included CCJ +5.8%, POT +4.6%, VIP +4.2%, TM +4.1%, and CHA +4.0%. The losers were led by TTM -10.4%, BC -8.6%, RIMM -5.7%, and WHR -4.6%.
US Treasuries were soft as yields lifted. The $USB long bond dropped -0.53% to 128.66 and is very weak this morning.
Wednesday, the US Dollar strengthened ($USD +0.47% to 88.00) while the Euro dropped -0.52% to 125.43. Earlier this morning at 7:40am ET, the $USD was at 87.505 and the Euro at 126.86. Crude Oil for April was at 38.60 and was getting a bid. The DJIA futures were at 7548, indicating a modest open.
I’ll cut this short so I can catch the open.
