Closing Brief

The main indexes closed moderately higher into the Christmas Eve close, with the sp' +5pts @ 1833. The two leaders - Trans/R2K, both settled up 0.4%. Market looks set for further gains into year end, and at least the first 2-3 weeks of 2014.


sp'daily5

VIX'daily3

Summary

For the equity bulls, Santa has been delivering presents for much of 2013..so today's close in the sp'1830s certainly isn't surprising.

With the QE-taper uncertainty out of the way, there is NOTHING to stop this market from pushing higher into early 2014.

Best bullish case by late Jan is Dow 17000, with sp'1900s. Those will be tough to achieve, but if earnings are 'reasonable' in January,...then those levels are most certainly viable.

For those of you leaving into the sunset...

Enjoy your day away from this lunacy...and most certainly...Merry Christmas :)
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*I'll probably post something later in the day.

12pm update - spacewalking into the close

The main indexes are holding moderate gains, and it looks like we'll close today in the low sp'1830s..with a fearless VIX in the 12s. There are some interesting individual movers, not least the shippers which are all ramping hard into year end.


sp'daily5

RIG, daily

Summary

*for those interested...

LIVE coverage of a spacewalk - to fix a cooling system, 220 miles above your head..

see: NASA TV
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updates into the early close...of 1pm :)


12.15pm.. sp'1833...a close in the 1830s now looks assured.

DRYS +7%..and looking powerful on the daily chart..

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11am update - new highs... naturally

It is just another day in market land, with further gains, taking many indexes to new historic highs. The sp'1840/50s seem viable by year end, along with a year end close of the VIX in the 12/11s. Gold and Oil are both moderately higher.


Dow' daily

Summary

We have a rather clear F flag on the Dow daily index chart. Again, its important to note that the monthly chart is offering 16500s..and in January...that will rise to the 17000s.

Equity bears should dwell on the fact that QE will still be a monstrous $900bn as at Jan'1 2014.

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Notable strength in DRYS, RIG, TLSA.TWTR, UAL

It would be 'useful' for yours truly to see RIG 53/55 by mid January.  Seasonally, RIG tends to jump in the first few months of the year..so...it will be interesting to see how things proceed.


11.33am.. RIG trying to re-take the 200 day MA..  this is all starting to get somewhat entertaining..with just 90mins left of the day!