Before the recap, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who took part in yesterday's survey. The results were far above expectations and it is great to see that many people are seeing the posts at STTG as something that both helps to navigate the market as well as educate. It's a jungle out there. (here)
As for Thursday's session it was a relatively important day, although everything could change with the knee jerk reaction to tomorrow's monthly employment data. The S&P 500 gained 0.7% and NASDAQ 0.45%. The S&P 500, after hugging the 20 day moving average for six sessions, finally bounced smartly off it and created a weekly high - finishing over Monday's high point.
Recall I said Tuesday that the NASDAQ had the potential danger of forming a bearish "head and shoulders" pattern (signified by the three orange ovals). I noted a close over 3150 would help to eliminate this particular pattern and it came extremely close to happening. That 3150 number was a rounded figure that signified a close above Monday's highs so that did happen, but barely. Again, tomorrow morning's action will determine if this is confirmed.
Meanwhile, after a horrid session yesterday - the worst in months - for oil, it had a strong reversal today. While we don't like higher oil for our pocketbooks it is generally considered a net positive for markets as it signifies "risk on". Until light crude gets back over the $94 level it is still in quite a bearish condition but a 4% move in back to back days is quite head snapping.
Gold hit a 9 month high as the European Central Bank had another meeting; nothing new was announced but ECB head Mario Draghi reiterated he is willing, able, (and wanting) to buy more sovereign debt. He just needs Spain to agree to terms!
Here are some interesting individual chart updates from last night's Dan Zanger newsletter which are worth a look. While Apple has struggled of late, falling to its 50 day moving average, it seems a lot of that money has moved over to the Google camp. Meanwhile professional social networking firm LinkedIn has been somewhere in the middle - not breaking out during this three week consolidation period but holding its 21 day period moving average.
Interesting (or scary) factoid of the day - 1 billion humanoids are now Facebook members. (of course this includes all the people who joined for a few days and quit)
