EmailThe S&P 500 held its ground Monday and even added three more points, or 0.2%, to Friday's rally effort. It wasn't the most exciting trading action, which in large part meant it was more of the same.
Stocks advanced on light volume (just 620 mln shares traded at NYSE) in a rotational trade that once again saw the cyclical sectors outperform and the countercyclical sectors underperform.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average was the standout as it rallied 1.3% to a new record high. Separately, small-cap and mid-cap stocks outperformed their larger counterparts while Treasuries remained under selling pressure.
There hasn't been any disturbing news overnight to upset the current balance. Actually, the lead headlines have provided added support.
Germany reported better-than-expected factory orders for March, which gave a boost to European bourses. Japan's Nikkei, which has been closed for several days, rallied 3.6% in a catch-up trade. And the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to a record-low 2.75%.
The earnings results since yesterday's close are pretty nondescript in terms of their influence on the broader market. Some headliners include DirecTV (DTV), which beat the Capital IQ consensus estimate by $0.33, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), which beat by $0.14, and Molson Coors (TAP), which came up five cents shy.
Dow component Walt Disney (DIS) reports after the close. According to Capital IQ, analysts are expecting the company to report a profit of $0.77 per share on revenue of $10.49 bln.
The S&P futures are trading 0.2% above fair value, which is creating an expectation for a slightly higher open for the cash market. That indication has kept the Treasury market on the defensive. The 10-year note is down four ticks, pushing its yield up to 1.78%.
That's it in a small nutshell this morning, which is about all it would take to hold any new insight on the stock market's stance.
