S&P 500 rises to an 11 month high

The Federal Reserve proclaimed the recession appears to be over & that sentiment helped stocks go up, although not dramatically. Dow rose 49 bringing it within 33 of its 2009 high reached 2 weeks ago, advancers were ahead of decliners 5-2 & NAZ was up 22. Banks had a good day, closing in on the 2009 high reached last month.

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 194.92

Change 2.76

% Change 1.4%

The Alerian MLP Index was up a fraction, taking it into the 241s while the Dow Jones REIT index rose 3.20 taking to 160.87 & near the 10 month high of 165 reached last month. Junk bond funds were higher, near 2009 highs.

Plains All American (PAA), a large MLP, is selling 4.6M units at 46.70. The proceeds will be used for corp purposes including paying down debt. MLPs have capital found available even during the credit crunch.

Plains All American Pipeline prices offering

Alerian MLP Index --- Index




Dow Jones REIT index --- 6 months





Oil settled back to the low 71s after its big gain yesterday. Gold closed down, a little below 1K. The dollar continues weak, that's fuel for higher commodity prices. The Japanese ¥ is only 92 to the dollar while the € is about $1.44½, both at or near recent high levels.

CLV09.NYM

...Crude Oil Oct 09

...71.29

... 0.19 .....(0.27%)

GCU09.CMX

..Gold Sep 09

..990.80

.. 7.10 ......(0.71%)

Treasuries had another auction, this time for 10-year Treasury bonds & the auction went well. That means the Treasury sold all the bonds. Indirect bidders were active, a polite way of saying that foreigners continue to buy new debt & there were plenty of bids for the auction (i.e. most did not get all the bonds they bid on). The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was up 1 basis point to 3.48%.


According to the Federal Reserve's snapshot of economic conditions, economic activity is stabilizing or improving adding to evidence that the recession is over. Most analysts are predicting that the economy is growing again, at 3-4% in Q3 . Looking ahead, businesses in most FED regions are "cautiously positive" about the economic outlook.

•Economy Is Stable or Improving in Most of U.S., Fed Regional Survey Finds



The last time the S&P 500 500 closed above today's close of 1033 was on Oct 6. Dow has a similar record, although it had slightly higher closes last week, so, technically today's close is not at an 11 month high. Meanwhile, unemployment is 9.7% & would be around 17% if underemployed (those working at part time jobs, etc. trying to make ends meet) were included. Just another disconnect for the markets to ponder.

S&P 500 --- 1 year




Dow Jones Industrials --- 1 year