Stock Market Makes New Recovery High

The markets are rallying this morning, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new recovery highs. The S&P 500 topped at 1344 on Feb. 18th before settling into a correction. Today, roughly 10 weeks later, it has broken above that level and moved into new high ground. This should spell a new upleg for the markets.

There was another round of positive earnings reports last night and this morning, with positive reactions from the likes of ITW, UPS, MMM, and Ford (F) - to name a few. A couple of disappointments came from Coca-Cola (KO) and Netflix (NFLX).

There was also a solid Consumer Confidence report, with April coming in at 65.4 vs. 63.8 last month.

Asian markets were lower across the board overnight amid concerns of further interest rate hikes in China.

Morgan Stanley downgraded the commodity sector this morning, which would be adding to the selling. Gold prices are slightly lower to $1501, while silver prices have pulled back nearly 4%. Oil is only slightly lower near $112.

The 10-year yield is lower again to 3.34%; and the VIX is down -3.6% today back to 15.20, a low level.

Trading comment: The market's uptrend seems firmly back on track now, with the market making new highs again. I am looking at many of the industrial leaders that are still off their highs, and are likely to be back at new highs shortly. I like names such as EMR, DE, CAT, and FLR. I also think a stock like LVS could play catch up, even though I usually like to stick with the market leaders. On that front, I expect AAPL to rejoin the list of leaders soon.

long AAPL, EMR, DE, CAT, FLR, LVS