I had said that I would not use the word “astounding” to describe some of the strong upside days that we have seen these past several months, but yesterday’s dramatic upside moonshot certainly would fit into that category.

For instance, at 3:20pm the Dow was higher by “only” 282 and happened to end with a 478 point gain, which meant that it rose by almost 200 points in those last 40 minutes! The upside charge was led by very strong advances in CAT, GS, HD and MRK at an all-time high.

The S&P went bonkers on the upside as well with a closing new high of 5248 after three straight lower sessions. It was up by 15 at 3:20pm but ended with a huge gain of 45 which meant that it skyrocketed by 30 points in those last 40 minutes, and is that normal? In any event, the advances were led by energy, financial and industrial stocks as many large technology techs took the day off again.

The Nasdaq was the weakest and was actually lower at 3:20pm by 10 points and then took off to the upside as well with a closing gain of 83 to 16,399 but it was hampered by declines in NVDA of all things, NFLX, META. ADBE, AVGO and MSFT as investors obviously switched their priorities as the first-quarter is coming to a close.

The Russell 2000 Index of small stocks did well on its own with a strong advance of 44 to 2114 as small banks did nicely again while the VIX came way down to 12.78 on the huge up move in stocks and is once again getting close to its long-term support of 12.40 and let’s see what happens if it gets down there.

Dow component MRK rose to a new high after federal regulators approved its treatment for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare disease where blood vessels in the lungs thicken and narrow. 

 

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Donald M. Selkin

Chief Market Strategist

 

Don Selkin is the Chief Market Strategist at Newbridge Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC and provides the Fair Value analysis for CNBC each morning. The commentary provided in this Market Letter is intended to provide our current or potential customers with timely market analysis and should not be considered a research report. This Market Letter may contain, and is limited to: Discussions of broad based indices; Commentaries on economic, political or market conditions; Technical analysis concerning the demand and supply for a sector, index or industry based in trading volume and price; Statistical summaries of multiple companies’ financial data, including listings of current ratings; and, recommendations regarding increasing or decreasing holdings in particular industries or securities. This Market Letter does not make a financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promotes a product or service of the firm. This Market Letter contains only news, facts, and commentary on information previously reported from a news source believed to be accurate and reliable by the author. These news sources include the following: {Bloomberg Financial, Reuters, and Associated Press}. It is possible that at any given point in time, the author, Newbridge Securities, or one or more of its employees or registered individuals associated with Newbridge Securities, may hold a position, either long, or short, as well as options, bonds or other instruments in the companies mentioned in this report.