April 22nd 2014 – Stocks Rise On M&A Activity and Earnings

Market View:

As strong as this bounce seems to be, there will likely be some profit taking in the next couple of days.  After 5 days of upside I expected some weakness today in what would have set up a classic inverted head and shoulders pattern in the S&P 500.  But it wasn’t to be and stocks climbed higher.  I think after a small dip we will see the market higher soon.

Market News:

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 extending its longest winning run since October, as investors considered earnings from companies including McDonald’s and Netflix along with a roughly $45 billion offer for Allergan.

Stocks advanced further after data had existing home sales hitting 4.59 million in March, versus a 4.55 million estimate.

The Dow Transports rose to an intraday record, with GATX and Alaska Air Group among the year’s top gainers.

The S&P 500 advanced 12.49 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,884.38, with health care the best performing of its sectors and energy falling the most.

The Nasdaq rose 48.45 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,169.10.

For every share falling, roughly three gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 339 million shares traded as of 1:50 p.m. Eastern. Composite volume neared 1.9 billion.

Wednesday

Earnings: Boeing, Procter and Gamble, Facebook, Ericsson, Northrop Grumman, Norfolk Southern, Dow Chemical, Owens Corning, TD Ameritrade, Ryder Systems, Tupperware, WR Grace, Omnicare, LPL Financial, Johnson Controls, Ingersoll-Rand, EMC, F5 Networks, ETrade, Zynga, Xilinx, Texas Instruments, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Delta Airlines, Air Products, Biogen Idec, Raymond James, Morningstar, Safeway, Stryker,Qualcomm

8:50 a.m.: Manufacturing PMI

10:00 a.m.: New home sales

1:00 p.m.: $35 billion 5-year Treasury auction

News Sources:  CNBC and CNN Money