Weekly Stock Market Review

U.S. Stocks closed the week of trading essentially unchanged on Friday, but in the process, ended a two week losing streak. The S&P 500 traded the last three sessions to the upside, but on each successive day, volume shrunk. While it is certainly possible for a rally to occur on Monday, since Friday's trading range was quite narrow on low volume, the odds suggest some difficulty for the market trading to higher levels in the next couple of days.

As usual, the leading groups during the rally this week were commodity based industries, with Silver miners leading the way. Drug related industries were a close second behind Silver, while the Metals & Mining, Copper, and Steel & Iron groups rounded out the top five industries.

In other markets, Gold was the headline mover among commodities, as it broke out to new all time highs, and tested the $1,100 per ounce level. This helped pull Silver higher, which is again testing $18 per ounce.

After rallying to 4 week highs, the Dollar Index sold off late in the week and closed lower for the week. In spite of the Dollar pullback late in the week, 10 Year Treasury Notes managed to rally on word of the 10.2% unemployment figure reported in Friday's release of government employment figures. This is the highest level since the 1981-82 recession.

Over the weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of a healthcare reform bill, with a $1.2 trillion price tag. While many view this version of the bill to be dead on arrival as debate moves to the Senate, it still does suggest that some form of healthcare reform will be passed in the foreseeable future, probably early next year. While there does appear to be some burden on business, the stock market has shrugged this off so far. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts as the bill moves closer to passage.

As earnings season is nearly over, all focus will return to economic data. With the holidays ahead, you can bet there will be a lot of attention paid to retail sales.

Stay Tuned!

Scott Cole www.bestdaytradingstocks.com