The stock market added to its holiday gain with a Friday advance that was paced by the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%). The S&P 500 (+0.3%) climbed to a new record high at 2,088.77 with seven sectors ending in the green.
Although the major averages posted decent-sized gains, the advance occurred on below-average volume. In fact, Friday’s NYSE floor volume of 436 million shares represented the second-lowest total of the year. This was well below the 50-day average of 808 million and only ahead of Wednesday’s 340 million that was registered in a shortened session. Anemic volume wasn’t unique to the U.S. session as equity indices across Europe were closed altogether while markets across Asia enjoyed a low-volume rally.
The health care sector was powered by biotechnology as the industry group continued its rebound from a slip earlier in the week. The Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 306.61, +6.81) gained 2.3% and narrowed its weekly decline to 3.3% after being down as much as 7.9% at its lowest point on Tuesday.
Volumes have been slow, so I am trying to recharge and gear up for the 2015 kickoff. I’ll be doing my Top 10 for 2015 soon and maybe a Top 10 for biotech too. There are doubles and triples out there in this sector and I will do my best to find some. Takeovers should be active in biotech and elsewhere.
We will certainly see some bumps and bruises in 2015, but I think we’ll end the year higher than where we start.
I’ll be doing more video this year where I will discuss setups and show you what I see. The anatomy of a setup so to speak.
See you in the morning.