Greece on the Brakes!

It was a rather static day today on the back of weakness in Europe. Greece seems to have been causing concern again in terms of their inability to choose leadership.

However, it’s probably a good thing, no market can go straight up for too long.  We needed the market to take a breather after the miraculous bounce in mid-December.  Therefore, now I will look to see a rally higher this week.  I maintain that we will see the S&P 500 at 2100 before the end of the week.

Market News:

U.S. stocks closed narrowly mixed on Monday, amid fresh lows on oil prices and earlier pressure on European stocks from Greece’s failure to elect a president.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had the narrowest range of trade for December, and the narrowest range since the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 26

The Russell 2000 and the Dow Utility Average closed up at new highs, up 4.75 percent and 31.14 percent for the year, respectively. Both indices have led market gains since the S&P 500 closed at a 1.5-month low on Dec. 16.

The S&P 500 posted its 53rd record close for the year, boosted by a 1.11 percent gain in the defensive utilities sector

Low oil prices have hurt the energy-sensitive region of Texas, according to December figures from the Dallas Manufacturing Survey. The general business activity index fell to 4.1 from 10.5, the weakest level since March.

With many traders on vacation between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, composite volume on the New York Stock Exchange was below 2 billion for most of the day.

Earlier, stocks opened lower, following the lead of U.S. stock index futures, amid some pressure on European stocks from Greece’s failure to elect a president in a third round of elections.

Greek stocks fell as much as 11 percent on the news, paving the way for a snap election on January 25, 2015. The result did not come as a surprise, with many analysts saying prior to the vote that the Greek government needed a “miracle” to avoid a general election.

The Greek politics sent European stocks lower, with losses on the FTSE 100 capped by a slight rally in the basic resources sector.

Source: CNBC