Dow sets another 2009 high

Stocks shot out of the gate strong & remained higher all day. Dow finished up 96 at 10,092 (for another yearly high), advancers over decliners 3-1 & NAZ was up 19. Banks were strong, although slipped slightly in the PM.


S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 205.69

Change 0.94

% Change 0.5%

Nothing seems able to stop MLPs from having their best year in history. The index is up 90, off its low earlier this year (today's gain was 2). Here's another distribution increase: Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) announced a cash distribution of $0.92 per unit on all of its outstanding limited partner units, up from the August 2009 distribution of $0.905 per unit (PAA).

REITs had another nice gain but have had a less spectacular run than MLPs, the index was up 3½ today. Junk bond funds were strong. And the VIX closed in the low 21s, to another yearly low. Treasuries rose modestly, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell 2 basis points to 3.40%. Oil gained to the 79s, another yearly high while gold shot up 10 to 1061.


Alerian MLP Index --- YTD




Dow Jones REIT Index --- YTD





This is the kind of market where throwing darts is all that's needed to find a winner. It feels good, but markets this overbought can't last forever. The sinking feeling in my stomach is that a major correction is long overdo. About 25% of the companies in the S&P 500 will report earnings this week & they should be encouraging because the standard is, as it has been all year, to beat lowered expectations. Sales tend to be wishy washy, cutting expenses (i.e. jobs) is at the heart of profit gains. Banks have an extra plus, trading profits but those are non recurring from one qtr to the next.

Sorry this post is a little shorter than others, but I had internet problems. I installed AVG 9 which gets rave reviews . But I had to uninstall it & went back to Avira. That brought the computer back to its usual self.

Dow Jones Industrials --- YTD