12/24/13

Twas the night before Christmas so few joined the fray

The lack of concerted leadership did its part, keeping both buyers and sellers at bay.

The volume was light and trading ranges were tight

In fact, the New York Stock Exchange had less than 300 million shares in its holiday sight.

That marked a multi-year low, but did little to stop the glow

As the S&P added just over five points to a year-long bull show.

Stocks climbed through the session with cyclical groups serving up the lead

To be sure, consumer discretionary (+0.3%) and industrials (+0.5%) padded their status as this year’s elite.

The two sectors extended their yearly gains to 39.5% and 36.2%, respectively

With their influence being felt on all the indices due to their 22% share of the S&P, collectively.

Like Rudolph, the influential industrials led Santa’s aerial charge

While discretionary shares, like Dasher or Dancer, paced the convoy of the bearded airborne man at large.

Among commodities, energy (+0.6%) and materials (+1.1%) were boosted by rising oil and gold shining for once

Specifically, crude climbed (+0.3%) to $99.21 per barrel while gold (+0.5%) ended at $1203.30 per troy ounce.

On the downside, consumer staples (+0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and financials (+0.2%) lagged modestly

But despite their underperformance, the session went off swimmingly.

There were some standouts in the heavyweight sectors, but some few big names found a coal or two

On that note, Twitter (TWTR 69.96, +5.42) was boosted by continued momentum, Nike (NKE 77.66, +0.55) climbed on prospects of increasing market share and revenue while Apple (AAPL 567.67, -2.42) shed 0.4% because after yesterday’s 3.8% jump, a pullback was simply due.

Over on the bond side, steady selling ensued

But despite the five-basis point gain (to 2.99%), the volume remained subdued.

A flurry of data did little to upset the mood

Most notably, the Durable Orders report revealed that in October, a solid increase in capital goods orders (+4.5%) was accrued.

There will be no data tomorrow and the exchange will be under lock and key.

Nasdaq +37.6% YTD

Russell 2000 +36.8% YTD

S&P 500 +28.6% YTD

DJIA +24.8% YTD