CLOSING BELL

16:15 ET Dow 10464.93  +50.79, Nasdaq 2252.67  +15.01, S&P 1118.02  +3.97,

Broad based buying helped stocks hit a new 52 week high.  This was despite a lower than expected revised Q3 GDP number and a stronger dollar.

This session's trading volume wasn't very high; fewer than 1 billion shares exchanged hands on the NYSE. Low trading volume often enables stocks to move more than they ordinarily would during a day.  The low trading volume in part was due to many traders already leaving for the holiday vacation.


Micron Technology (MU) 9.41 +0.10 reported first quarter earnings of $0.23 per share. This was $0.16 better than the consensus. The stock rose 4% following the earnings release, but has pulled back and is trading 1.28% higher after hours at 9.53 +0.12.

Treasuries continue to fall.  The benchmark 10-year Note has fallen 18 ticks this session after it dropped more than one full point in the previous session. Its yield currently stands at 3.75% for the first time since August.  I can attribute this to the rating downgrade for Greece and the fear the other Eurozone counties with financial problems may also be downgraded.

Q3 GDP Revised Lower. The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the GDP grew at a 2.2% annual rate in the third quarter versus 2.8% in the second estimate. Economist had estimated that there would be no revision to the 2.8% growth previously reported.

Existing Home Sales Rise.  Sales increased 7.4% from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million units.  Economist has estimated 6.25 mln.  Median prices rose slightly to $172,600 from $172,200 in October and the supply of unsold homes dipped to 6.5 months from 7.0 months.  Part of the jump may be due to the first time buyer tax credit that was set to expire in November but was extended.  This could cause a decline in future months.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+1.0%), Materials (+0.7%), Tech (+0.6%), Energy (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Health Care (+0.4%), Financials (+0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.1%)

Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.7%)