Dow tries to top 8000

Stocks charged forward out of the gate & had a good run up in the first 2 hours. For the rest of the day, stocks held onto those gains. Dow was up over 250 taking it over 8K, the first time in 7 weeks. It held above 8K, until selling off at the close (as shown in the Bigcharts widget on the right). Unfortunately for the bulls, while up 216 it still couldn't close above 8K. Advancers led decliners 6-1 & NAZ was up 51.

The chart for Dow over the last month shows an impressive gain of almost 1500 points. Of course, it started from a severely oversold position.


Dow Jones Industrials --- 1 month




They keep talking about banks leading the way up, but today their performance was only so-so. The S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX had a good, but not great day with only modest price swings.

Value 125.65

Change 3.56

% Change 2.9%

The Alerian MLP Index was up 2½, should have been more given oil's great day. The MLP Index still has the prettiest chart, being one of only a few to show gains in 2009. The Dow Jones REIT Index popped 7, from very depressed levels. Nibblers may have been attracted by those double digits yields. Junk bond funds had nice gains & VIX was essentially even in the 42s.


Alerian MLP Index --- YTD




Oil had a stellar day, up 4 on hopes for global economic recovery. Traders were encouraged by the weaker dollar & hopes that the economy has bottomed out.

CLK09.NYM

..Crude Oil May 09

..52.49

.. 4.10 ......(8.5%)

• Oil jumps above $52 on stock market gains- AP

At the G-20 meeting, major changes are being made to the worldwide financial system. They are cracking down on hedge funds (that was easy with very few protests) & pledging more than $1T to the World Bank, making it the ultimate global bank. This is their remedy to prevent a repeat of the financial meltdown the world has gone thru. These changes are significant. The US lost a bit in its role as the world leader while China (called the 4th largest economy in the world) is being recognized as a major player. The leading financial powers now are: US, Europe & China. President Obama said this is a turning point for the global economy & the beginning of a recovery. He also said that the countries are rejecting protectionism, we'll say how that plays with unions in the US.

•G-20 Agrees to Regulatory Crackdown, Pledges $1 Trillion for World Economy
•Obama Says G-20 Summit Will Be `Turning Point' for Global Economic Rebound


Following the run by the bulls & the failure of Dow to hold above 8K, profit taking can be expected to close out the week.