Stocks Hold On To Recent Gains

After a six session rise, the S&P 500 gave back a whopping 2 points yesterday. Today, the major indexes are all slightly positive in early trading.

There is not a lot of market moving news. There was an acquisition in the energy space, with Chevron (CVX) acquiring Atlas Energy (ATLS) for $43.34, a 37% premium. The news has the energy sector up +0.93%, leading all other sectors. Financials are down the most so far, with a -0.58% decline.

The dollar is a bit lower today, and that is helping the commodity run continue. Oil prices are now up to $87.35, and gold has pushed further into new high territory by passing the $1400 level (currently $1420). Gold investors seem to be asking how high is high? But with every country trying to devalue their currencies to boost export demand, it still seems premature to try to answer that question.

Asian markets were mostly lower overnight; the 10-year yield is up a touch to 2.57%; and the volatility index (VIX) is testing recent lows below the 18 level.

Trading comment: More of the same. AAPL and GOOG continue to churn higher. Priceline (PCLN) reported great numbers and is up 10%. And the last cloud stock to sort of recover, VMWare (VMW) looks to be trying to recapture is overhead 50-day. So growth stocks continue to lead the market, but sector rotation hasn't left out other leaders from retail to restaurants to basic material stocks (CAT, DE, FLR, etc). So basically the mantra has been follow the leaders, don't bottom fish in the laggards.

long AAPL, DE, GOOG, GLD, VMW