Stock Market update: Stock Market Update -Dec 20th

More sideways action in the market this week (5 weeks now!), closing around 1100 on the S&P 500. The dollar was up sharply again, as more credit issues surfaced in Europe. RIMM and ORCL were up on good earnings reports, while PALM was down on a disappointing outlook; FDX was down on earnings as well. The S&P500 components were also rebalanced on Friday. Citi shares sold off after weak pricing of it's secondary share offering, while Visa is breaking out to new highs.

New unemployment claims for this week came in at 480,000 (chart).
-under the half million mark, but higher than expected. The latest report shows continuing claims at the 5,186,000 level.
Seven more banks were shutdown this week! (list).
Ugly chart! ZLC

Commodities:
Oil prices recovered a bit, closing the week around $73 per barrel.
Natural Gas continued to rise, closing around $5.75.
Gold prices fell some more, closing around $1110.
The US Dollar index rallied again, closing around 78.
Bond prices saw little net change for the week.

Next week will be a short trading week because of the Christmas holiday, with the markets closing early on Thursday.

Market outlook: The S&P500 is still stuck in a trading range, though I expect it to break out sometime soon -perhaps in early January as earnings reports come out. The small cap IWM could still rally up to the October highs in the meantime. Trading through the end of the year will probably be on light volume. Take some time off! Happy Holidays to all.