DIA -.64%, SPY -.69, QQQQ -.70%
10 year Treasury +1/4, yielding 4.24%
Because there was no major economic news today, the market only had earnings news to work with. Alcoa announced a drop in revenues, and Advanced Micro Devices lowered revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. Alcoa announced that despite an increase in alluminium prices, energy and interest rate expenses were hurting their bottom line.
For the last four trading sessions, the indexes have all traded in ranges. Today they dropped below those ranges, indicating some reticence on the part of traders regardingn warnings season (which starts next week).
The 10-year treasury rallied 1/4 point today. There is a feeling among traders that inflation is actually under control, despite the Fed's negative statement about inflation in last week's minutes release. The yield curve continues its flattening (the difference between the 2 and 10 year treasuries), which now stands at 103 basis points.
The dollar rebounded against the yen today, closind up .3%. The Euro lost .2%. There is once again talk of Central banks intervening in the currency markets to prop up their currencies, but none have performed that action yet. In addition, many commentators are still negative on the dollar for the year. It appears the market is simply in a holding pattern, possibly awaiting the trade deficit figure issued tomorrow at 8:30 AM.
Another wild ride in the oil market today. First, the market has been concerned OPEC will follow-through with their desire to increase their price target to $35/bbl at the January meeting. Secondly, the NE is projected to get colder this weekend. Third, there are some shut-downs in the production segment of the industry. Finally, the Energy Department issues its weekly inventory date tomorrow, with the expectation of a drop. All of these factors weigh on the market and cause a great deal of volatility.