The market finished the final session of the week in a mixed fashion. But it is nonetheless one of the best weeks in a while. The Dow is up five days in a row and the total gains for the week top 7%. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, is extending its winning streak to eight. Most earnings reports continued to beat profit expectations. We also get some positive news from the housing front. Both housing starts and build permits handily beat expectation in the latest period. 

Most major sectors finished the session modestly higher led by basic materials and technology. The CRB commodity index rose 1.7%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries dropped with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR dropped 1 bps to 50 bps. The VIX index declined 1 point. The market breath was neutral on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.

The market continued to rally on this Thursday. The S&P 500 is up for four consecutive sessions while the Nasdaq has made seven gains in a row. Believe it or not, four days' rally brought the market back to almost the highest level for the year despite the market dropping for four consecutive weeks prior to this week. Earnings news dominated the headline news. Three big names - JPMorgan, IBM and Google all beat their respective earnings estimation. The earnings season is so far so good. But the bar is obviously being raised after this week and companies that are set to report in the next few weeks have to not only beat their expectations but offer upside guidance.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by industrial and transportation. The CRB commodity index rose 0.5%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries rose with the yield curve flattened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 51 bps. The VIX index was little changed. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was lighter compared to the previous session.

The market rallied sharply this Wednesday and brought the winning streak to three consecutive sessions. By close, all three major indexes were up by around 3%. Volume, unlike the previous two sessions, also picked up a bit. Intel's better-than-expected earnings results certainly helped the market sentiment. Traders started to realize that the earnings picture for the quarter might not be as bad as they had feared and four straight weeks' drop in the S&P 500 was simply too pessimistic. Most economic news for the session was in line with expectation. CPI jumped 0.7% in June and core-CPI rose 0.2%. The New York State Manufacturing Index for July came in at -0.55, slightly better than -5.0 expected. The Fed also lifted its outlook on the economy for both 2009 and 2010 in its latest FOMC minutes.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by basic materials and technology. The CRB commodity index rose 1.5%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries dropped with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 51 bps. The VIX index rose1 point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was heavier compared to the previous session.

The market carried on yesterday's big gain and finished the session modestly higher. It was an extremely quiet session and volume continued to be on the light side. Goldman Sachs, the first major financial firm to report earnings, came out with much better than expected results for both top and bottom lines. However, as the stock has risen over 200% from its November lows, it didn't move much in today's trading. We should also note that the book value of Goldman is $106 at the end of June. Usually big bank shares are sold for 1 to 1.5 times book value. After the bell, tech giant Intel also handily beat earnings and revenue expectations, which should give tech stocks a boost in tomorrow's trading. We also had some mixed economic reports. Retail sales for June rose 0.6% from May, which was slightly better than consensus. Excluding autos, sales increased 0.3% vs. 0.5% expected.  Seperately, PPI gained 1.8% vs. an increase of 0.9% expected.

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by consumer cyclical and transportation. The CRB commodity index rose 1.1%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries dropped with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 51 bps. The VIX index dropped 1 point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was on the light side.

The market started the new week on a positive note. By close, all three major indexes were up by more than 2%, essentially erasing losses from the previous week. However, volume continued to be on the light side. As we enter the earnings season, we are looking for 6 Dow components and 31 S&P 500 companies to report results this week. On average, analysts are expecting a drop of 35% in earnings for the S&P 500 companies. Financials provided the leadership today as Meredith Whitney provided a positive outlook for banking shares. Meredith made her name well-known since the credit crisis started two years ago.

For the week ending on July 10th, all major indexes continued to see their 200-day moving averages slope down. Mid-cap and small-cap companies fared worse compared to the rest of the market. Dow Utilities performed relatively well with the yields on Treasury plunging. Sectorwise, commodity related issues and Chinese companies continued to face sharp sell-offs. Alternative energy companies such as solar did poorly as crude price posted a loss in excess of 10% for the week. Few sectors had a gain for the week. Airlines, for the second week in a row, rose in a declining broad market. The rise in the sector was certainly helped by drop in crude price. Flat panel makers also posted solid gains for the week as world-wide demand continued to drive up prices for flat panels.

All 10 major sectors finished the session higher led by financial and industry. The CRB commodity index was little changed. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries dropped with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR rose 1 bps to 51 bps. The VIX index declined 3 points. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was on the light side.