Buyers cheer lower oil prices and better job outlook
A big drop in jobless claims along with better than expected readings from the ISM Non-Manufacturing sector helped boost stocks. AAPL stock lead the NASDAQ higher as buyers jumped in and bid up shares in anticipating of exploding iPad 2 sales. RIMM stock was another big winner of the day as shares continue to try and make a strong move off the lows. Volume sent mixed messages throughout the day as it began the day running much higher than Wednesday’s level, but tailed off as the trading session wore on. It wasn’t until stocks were tripped up at the close when volume began to find some life. Technically, the market had a follow-through day, but it doesn’t exlude one from being prudent.
We could certainly power higher with tomorrow’s job report gives us the potential to power much higher. We have been getting better than expected Jobless Claim figures for the month of February suggesting the Unemployment rate may dip below the 9% mark. Remember, these are manipulated numbers and we should only take them with a grain of salt. Price and volume dictate our moves, not a government report on labor.
The market here is a bit wide and loose. Something I have been talking about in our chat room, we saw a similar pattern in January and we were able to power higher. Now, we are faced with a similar market, but leading stocks aren’t fairing as well as they did in January. New leadership is forming with plenty of oil and gas names looking good as well as metal stocks. But, this new leadership forming has been known to form near major stock market tops. Just look at April 2008 when energy and material stocks lead the way higher. Use price and volume as your guide along with cutting losses to avoid utter disaster in your account.
Keep it classy and always cut your losses short!
