Swing Trading Strategies & Stock Picks Since 2003

Dow Jones Industrial Average

4^th Dec 09

Key Statistics

Open: 10,368.57

High: 10,516.7

Low: 10,311.81

Close: 10,388.90

Change: +22.75 (+0.22%)

Prev Close: 10,366.15

RSI: 56.18

MACD: 113.89

Snapshot

• Dow ended +22.75 (+0.22%) points higher, S&P 500 up 0.6% and Nasdaq up 1.0%.
• November jobs report data better than expected
• Strong dollar hits commodity prices
• Bonds prices slump

Current Market view – Cautious

Market Strategy

Traders/Investors are advised to let the profits run & use any correction as a buying opportunity. One should make long positions on every dip.

Market Commentary

U.S. stocks ended marginally higher on Friday as the gold prices plunged and dollar strengthened after better than expected jobs data report. There was a reversal in the usual weak dollar trade done in the markets.

The U.S. Dollar Index hit a one-month high, up 1.6%.The dollar's rally took a heavy toll on the prices of raw materials traded globally in terms of the greenback. Gold was particularly hard hit, since it is still treated by many investors as an alternative form of currency.

Crude-oil futures were off 84 cents to $77.52 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Exxon Mobil ended down near 1%.

In its economic report, Labor Department said that the U.S. economy shed just 11,000 jobs from nonfarm payrolls in the month and that the unemployment rate fell to 10% from 10.2% in October. Those figures eased analysts’ expectations of another six-figure decline in payrolls and a steady unemployment rate.

Another economic report showed that factory orders rose 0.6% in October.

Following the positive economic reports, traders fear that the Fed might soon move away from its near zero interest rate policy. This led to strong gains in the dollar and weakness in the commodity and equity markets.

Treasury prices fell. The 10-year note was down 26/32 to yield 3.474%

Volume was above average on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.57 billion shares changing hands, above last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on the Nasdaq, about 2.32 billion shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.28 billion.

21 of the 30 Dow Jones Stocks ended the session in green. Bank of America Corp was the top gainer on Dow up near 3.30%. Intel Corp, HP and the Boeing Co were other top gainers.

Du-Pont was the biggest loser, down 7.15%. Alcoa Inc, Exxon Mobil and Pfizer Inc were other prominent losers.

The Day Ahead

·        Consumer Credit data is due for release on Monday