MyHappyTrading's  Instablog

The market opened lower today.  The dollar jumped on more worries on Greece and the commodity sectors were weak.  However, jobless claims numbers fell and housing sales jumped.  The market soon staged a dramatic upswing.  Techs led the way.  AAPL reached a new all-time high at $266.75, passing MSFT as the second largest company on the S&P 500 in terms of market capitalization.  SNDK (+12.32%) and FFIV (+7.21%) pushed higher with stellar earnings and help the semiconductor sector.  NFLX (+15.26%) and CMG (+14.18%) were also among the high flyers off their respective earnings. 

Buyers bidded up ICE and CME shares as potential financial reform is seen as beneficial to the exchanges.  ICE added +4.44% while CME jumped +4.8%.  The call options moved extremely well on these.  For example, CME Apr 340 calls opened at $3.21 and closed at $11.5, up +194.87%; these traded as high as $14.8 today.  ICE Apr 115 calls opened at $2.03 and went as high as $6.6, before closing at $5.8, up +163.64%.  Casino stocks also did very well.  LVS gained +3.04% and WYNN vaulted +4.64%.

After the market, much anticipated earnings from AMZN and MSFT seemed to have disappointed investors, as initially.  Both companies beat the estimates.  AMZN came in a bit weak on its guidance, pressuring its shares down 6%.  MSFT reported a net profit of 45 cents per share vs. an average estimate of 42 cents.  Still, this did not seem enought.  MSFT shares fell 3.66% in after-hours trading.  COF and AXP both reported rosy earnings.  COF made a profit of $1.4 per share vs. last year's loss of 44 cents per share.  COF shares jumped +5.66% higher.  AXP quarterly earnings more than doubled from the year before, siting higher consumer spending.  AXP shares were up by +1.13%.

The Dow was up +9.37 points; SPX added +2.73 points; Nasdaq gained +14.46 points:

HGX (housing) jumped +3.13% while XLF (financials) managed to stay in the green.  SOXX (semiconductors) helped the market with a +1.92% gain.  OIH (oil services) and XME (metals and mining) were down sharply in the morning, but, came back into the green.  FXI (Chinese ADRs) was up slightly.

SPX

SPX added +2.73 points to close at 1208.67.  The MACD slid.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq gained +14.46 points to close at 2519.07.  Its MACD went up slightly.

Nasdaq topped last Thursday's high and closed just under 2520.  SPX is still seeing 1210 as a resistance.  The story is still the same (see yesterday's discussion).  New buyers are still standing by to jump in on weakness.  However, with both AMZN and MSFT reporting solid quarterly results, but, seeing sell-offs afterwards, investors that have been riding the rally seem to be ready to lock in profits.  Tomorrow is Friday.  So, we could see some more profit-taking.   

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