Courtesy of John Nyaradi.
U.S. stocks and index ETFs grind higher on Tuesday in the face of heavy resistance
In another quiet day of trading, U.S. stocks and index ETFs posted small gains to close in on significant, multi-year resistance levels.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) added 0.34% to close at 14,018, above the psychologically and technically important 14,000 level, and just 146 points below its all time record high close of 14, 164, last seen on October 9, 2007.
The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) advanced 0.16%, the Nasdaq 100 (NYSEARCA:QQQ) lost 0.43% and the Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM) gained 0.49%.
In other major markets, oil (NYSEARCA:USO) gained 0.59% to close at $97.51/bbl and gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) was flat at $$1649.60/oz.
Major U.S. stock and ETF indexes remain just below significant resistance levels and so need to successfully breach those levels for the rally to be confirmed.
In company news, Coca Cola (NYSE:KO) missed on its earnings estimate and fell 2% while Apple Computer (Nasdaq:AAPL) continued to bleed, dropping 2.5% on the day after staging a modest recovery from recent lows over the last few days of trading.
The State of the Union address comes on Tuesday evening and investors will be watching for some insight into the progress of the upcoming “sequestration” debate.
Today’s economic reports were mixed with the NFIB small business index rising and December job openings declining. Read “Little Change In Small Business Optimism”
Tomorrow brings economic reports including retail sales, inventories and import prices.
Bottom line: Stocks and ETFs remain at a significant and historic turning point. A break above all time highs would open the door to higher highs, while failure here would reconfirm the thirteen year triple top in the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) and set the stage for possible further declines.
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