VerySmartInvesting: Stocks advance, Nasdaq reaches 2009 high

Monday, December 21, 2009

Stocks advance, Nasdaq reaches 2009 high

Dow started the day with a 100 point advance & pretty much held the gain all day. Dow closed up 85, advancers over decliners 2-1 & NAZ gained 25 to a new 2009 high (Dow needs another 100 for a new 2009 high). Banks rebounded in the last couple of days but the Financial Index can't break out of the sideways trading range.

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value
194.20

Change
2.83

% Change
1.5%

Don't believe the wild swings in the Alerian MLP Index graph over the last 2 days. MLPs continue strong, the index has gained 105 (60% + distributions) this year & did well after the index was adjusted. Leading MLPs were up today. The index is showing a close at 281, probably a good number representing another yearly high. The Dow Jones REIT Index shot up 2+ essentially reaching its 2009 high. This strength was despite a report by Moody's that commercial real estate values had slipped to the lowest levels in 7 years. Go figgah!! Treasuries plunged today, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond jumped 13 basis points to 3.68%, the highest level since early Aug. Many home mortgages are linked to this rate, higher rates are not what the struggling housing market needs.

Alerian MLP Index --- 2 months

Dow Jones REIT Index --- 2 months

The dollar traded near a 3-month high against major counterparts. The Dollar Index has increased 4.1% in Dec to 77.918, getting within 1% of its 3-month high of 78.141 reached last week. The € (Euro) is below $1.43 & it takes over 91 Japanese ¥ to buy a dollar. Crude oil declined on the strong dollar. Oil rallied earlier after Nigeria’s main militant group claimed its first assault on oil infrastructure in the country in 5 months, while Iraq shut its northern export pipeline to Turkey after an explosion damaged the link. OPEC will meet in Angola tomorrow, it's expected to hold oil production targets steady. Gold has had a very tough going this month, still looking to find its footing. Falling below 1100 is a significant decline for traders.

CLF10.NYM

..Crude Oil Jan 10

..72.73

0.63
......(0.9%)

GCZ09.CMX

..Gold Dec 09

..1,092.40

18.40
......(1.7%)

GLD (ETF) --- 2 months

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Walgreen (WAG), Dividend Aristocrat, reported EPS of 49¢ in Q1 (FY 2010) up from 41¢ per share last year. Excluding 3¢ per share in restructuring costs, WAG earned 52¢ per share. Revenue rose 9.5% to $16.4B from $14.9B. Results were aided by concerned customers who got more than 5M flu shots at Walgreen. WAG administered 5.4M seasonal flu shots in Q1 compared with 1.2M in last year's entire flu season, from Oct to Feb. The stock slipped 3¢ to 36.61. The stock has had a more mild recovery than others in 2009 but it also wasn't hurt as badly when the market sold off.