The market finished the Thursday modestly higher. The trading activity is extremely quiet as the Dow spended most of the session near the unchanged level before closing the day higher by 4 points. We have some mixed economic news. The same-store sales results for most retailers came worse than expected. On the positive side, the initial jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since January. But as the reporting week was just ahead of a holiday so market watchers were hesitant to put too much weight on the results. Continuous claims, meanwhile, climbed to 6.88 million, another record high.

Most major sectors finished the session modestly higher led by financial and energy. The CRB commodity index rose 1.4%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries dropped with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR dropped to 51bps, another record low. The VIX index declined 1.5 points. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was lighter compared to the previous session.

The market finished the session in a mixed fashion after spending most of the day in the negative territory. Unlike previous few sessions, the volume did pick up quite significantly in today's trading. After the bell, the Dow component Alcoa unofficially kicked off the earnings season by top analysts estimation. The bulk of the earnings will come in the next three weeks. Just like every other earnings season, it is the forecast that really counts.

Most major sectors finished the session lower led by financial and basic materials. The CRB commodity index dropped 2.3%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasuries were mixed with the yield curve flattened. The three-month US LIBOR dropped to 52bps, another record low. The VIX index rose less than 1 point. The market breath was neutral on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was heavier compared to the previous session.

The market fell sharply on Tuesday despite a lack of economic and corporate news. By close, all three major indexes dropped by around 2% and the S&P 500 closed below its 200-day moving average for the third time in the last 26 sessions. We will continue to have little news for the rest of the week and it is likely technical and program trading will play an important role in the market.

One merit of the current bear market is that valuation is probably the best in a generation. Indeed, you cannot find too many companies with a market cap north of $100 billion these days. To be precise, there are only 34 companies worldwide that still belong to this elite group compared to 63 a year ago, according to Capital IQ. I remember that during the tech bubble days when Nortel had a market cap in excess of $150 billion; it could barely show up in the list of top 25 largest companies listed in the US. Today, a company with such a market cap can make a showing in the top 10 list. I'm going to list the names of the top 20 companies below and there are some interesting findings from the list. First, the US companies still accounted for half of the top 20 companies in the world, showing their massive earnings power despite so many problems that have happened to the country over the past two years; Second, there are four Chinese companies on the list and in fact, three of the top five are Chinese companies. Of course one can argue that valuation is quite fat in some HK-listed companies but one still has to appreciate how the economy has grown in the country over the past few years; Third, there are seven or more than a third of the companies in the top 20 list that belong to commodity-related industries, which is more than any other industry sector. Ironically, such a concentration almost always signals the peak of the industry. If you need proof, you don't need to go further than the tech bubble years 10 years ago or the banking "bubble" two years ago.

All 10 major sectors finished the session lower led by industrial and transportation. The CRB commodity index dropped 1.5%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasuries were mixed with the yield curve flattened. The three-month US LIBOR dropped to 54bps, another record low. The VIX index rose more than 1 point. The market breath was negative on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.

The market started the new week in a mixed fashion. Overall, it was a quiet session with few news items. The ISM service index came in slightly better than expected at 47 vs. 44 in the month before. The earnings season is going to kick off in the middle of this week but most of the important earnings won't come until next week.

For the week ending on July 3rd, the Dow became the first major indexes that closed below its 200-day moving average. In addition, both the Dow and the S&P 500 were closed below their respective 50-day moving averages. The Nasdaq is the strongest among the big three, at least from a technical perspective. Within the Nasdaq, the Internet sub-index is the strongest as its 200-day moving average starting to slope up. Based on the current trend, the Nasdaq should see its 200-day moving average slope up sometime late this month.

Sectorwise, airlines and fertilizers, were among the best performers out of 50 sub-groups for the week ending on June 26th. China related stocks were among the worst performers. Natural gas producers, oil service companies and casino stocks were also coming from the weak side. We continued to avoid commodity-related companies due to poor fundamental condition worldwide. 

Most major sectors finished the session lower led by basic materials and energy. The CRB commodity index dropped 2.3%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasuries were little changed. The three-month US LIBOR dropped to 55bps, another record low. The VIX index rose more than 1 point. The market breath was neutral on NYSE and negative on Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.