After some volatility in the morning, Monday was a very quiet session as the markets traded in a quite narrow range. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both fell 0.6%, digesting the pop up over the recent trading range we saw Friday in a sufficient way. News flow was quiet as investors await the retail sales report Wednesday and some traders speculate on Obama's State of the Union speech. Precious metals were however, quite weak today.
As for the indexes, status quo for the S&P 500 as it remains in the same channel that has defined it for almost all of 2013.
The NASDAQ sits right below those fall 2012 highs we noted Friday.
BeSpoke Premium reports has a report showing the hour by hour performance of the market in 2013 - as you can see you have had the best performance overnight as the market gaps up, the weakest performance immediately after, and then a rally in the latter part of the day. Very consistent for almost all of the year thus far.
Solar stocks were hot today as speculators looked for some ideas ahead of President Obama's State of the Union. I believe these stocks have roared ahead of the State of the Union almost every year he has been in his office - only to fall flat on their face soon after. First Solar (FSLR) is the best known of this bunch.
Both gold and silver were weak today, showcasing why it is better to stick with relative strength than pick at the bottom dwellers - these have been non participants for months.
