9:00am (EST)
The market spent much of Monday in negative territory but after a late start the bulls woke up in the final hour of trading. Although trading was tight, the Dow dipped to a low 10,570 before bouncing back and finishing the day at 10,642, up 17 points. By no means was it pretty but the higher close was the index’s fifth straight day of gains.
The S&P 500 also squeaked out a win by closing a half-point higher at 1,150. We have been watching this important level and yesterday’s close above it was a positive sign that the bulls are still pushing.
However, despite a strong surge, the Nasdaq fell 5 points to settle at 2,362. Tech has been leading the market higher and will continue to shine if the Nasdaq hits our short-term target of 2,400-2,450 but the sector just didn’t have it yesterday.
In economic news this morning, the Commerce Department said housing starts for February came in at 575,000 versus expectations of 570,000, while building permits were 612,000 versus calls for 601,000. Elsewhere, the import price index showed February import prices were down 0.3% while export prices fell 0.5%.
Of course, all eyes will be on the U.S. central bank committee as it wraps up its policy meeting later today. It is widely expected that they will keep key interest rates unchanged at near zero. The report comes out a little after 2pm (EST) and will be dissected for clues about the economic recovery and the Fed’s plans for interest rates.
As we head to press, Dow futures are higher by 9 points to 10,585 while the S&P 500 futures are up 2 to 1,147. The Nasdaq 100 futures are showing a 5 point gain and are at 1,922.
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