Sleepy day in the markets

Dow was modestly in the black all day & ended with a gain of 47, advancers over decliners 5-2 and NAZ was up 5. Averages I follow generally had modest gains with VIX pulling back a point to 43. The Alerian MLP Index gained 3 to 170, taking it a little further away from its recent lows below 160. Lehman High Yield Bond ETF continued its winning streak, up 1%.

Oil had a good day, but hard to attach much significance to it in a light trading day:

CLG09.NYM

...Crude Oil Feb 09

...37.98

... 2.63 .......(7.4%)

Despite lower sales for retailers, Amazon (AMZN), the largest retailer on the web, had record holiday sales. On Dec 15, its biggest day, 6.3M orders were placed. I carry their ads in a few widgets on the right, if interested. They feature popular new items every day.

Amazon.com Rises After Its ‘Best-Ever’ Holiday Season


On the good news front, gas at the pump dropped to a 58 month low of 1.64. Even lower prices are likely ahead, over the short run at least.

Retail gasoline prices drift to 58-month low- AP


3M (MMM), Dow stock & an S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat, has been increasing divs every year for something like 50 years. They have a nice yield of 3½% with a P/E of only 10X. Earnings will probably pull back next year from record levels in 2008 (guidance for 2009 may be given soon), but div increases should continue making it a nice long term holding. The list of S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is a good place to look for long term values where there are many to choose from.

Next week, back to more recession stories.