The S&P 500 index opened lower and briefly headed down after the opening bell, breaking yesterday's low, but rallied the rest of the day and was able to make it back into positive territory. The Nasdaq was the strongest index, finishing up 0.81%, while the Dow slumped to a marginal loss of 3 points, or 0.02%. Bulls will be pleased the with market's resilience, defending key levels attained over the last two weeks. Tomorrow's jobs report will likely be key to whether we break October pivot highs.
Apple (AAPL) seems to have resumed its role as market leader, and has hardly taken a day off in its climb since the December 20 gap and go. AAPL finished the day up 1.1% and looks set to challenge all-time highs early in 2012.
Bank stocks were especially strong today, another positive sign for bulls. Bank of America (BAC) led the charge, gaining 7.6% after Deutsche Bank reiterated its positive outlook on the banks.
Agricultural stocks were strong as well after Monsanto (MON) lifted its outlook for the fiscal year while reporting better than expected first quarter earnings. MON finished up more than 5% on the day.
One important trend to note is a de-coupling of the US market and the Euro. The Euro traded sharply lower overnight amid concerns over the European banking system and didn't get a bounce all day. France's borrowing costs also rose while Hungary's one-year bill rose to multi-year highs. Despite all of that, US stocks were able to rally after 11am ET and finish positive.
Tomorrow's jobs report could provide further evidence of this shift. If we can continue the trend of improving US economic data and the Euro continues to make lows, it will be very interesting to see how the market reacts to these opposing forces.
*DISCLOSURES: Scott Redler is long HAUP, SPY, AAPL, GS, JPM, OIH, COH, CSCO.
