The market finished the final session of the week and the month in a mixed fashion. However, it is a great month for stock investors. The Dow was up 8.5% for the month, making it the best month since Oct 2002. The S&P 500 also advanced about 7%, extending its winning streak to five consecutive months. The biggest economic report for the session is the advance GDP figure. The Q2 GDP showed a negative growth of 1% compared to a minus 1.5% expected. The previous quarter was revised down to a contraction of 6.4% instead of 5.5%. Seperately, the Chicago PMI came in at 43.3, roughly in-line with expectation. Finally, we are seeing money moving out from the money market funds. Actually it's quite a bit amount we are talking about. According to the Investment Company Institute, assets in money market funds dropped by a staggering $116 billion last month. That's not only a new all-time record of a one-month drop in assets in absolute amount but also in relative terms. It is no doubt that some of that money has flowed into the equity funds.

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by basic materials and consumer cyclical. The CRB commodity index jumped 1.7%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries rose with the yield curve flattened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 48 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 finished the Thursday modestly higher. Unlike the previous few sessions, it faced heavy selling during the final hour. But the closing level is nonetheless the best for the year. We had some positive news from the job front today. For the week ending July 25th, the initial jobless claims came at 584K. Some analysts were worrying about a number in north of 600K as the noise of auto factory closure started to walk away. A good auction of 7-year treasury notes also provided some relief to the market participants.

Most major sectors finished the session higher led by basic materials and consumer cyclical. The CRB commodity index jumped 3.9%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries rose with the yield curve flattened. The three-month US LIBOR declined 1 bps to 48 bps, another record low. The VIX index was little changed. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was heavier compared to the previous session.

The market finished the Wednesday modestly lower. But for the fifth time in a row, it managed to close much higher than its intra-day lows, indicating strong resistance. It is even more impressive considering that most of the news of the day was not that great. Overnight, the Chinese Shanghai Stock exchange tumbled 5% led by commodity related issues. Crude oil was weak throughout the session and finished the day lower by more than 6%. Investors should vividly remember that on Feb 27th 2008 when the Chinese market dropped by 9%, the US market followed suit. But not this time. As if that were not bad enough, the auction of the 5-year treasury notes brought much fewer bids compared to the previous one. Durable goods orders, meanwhile, dropped more than expected. But that was mostly caused by a sharp drop in aircrafts orders. Finally, the Fed's latest Beige Book indicated little improvement in overall economic activities.

Most major sectors finished the session lower led by basic materials and energy. The CRB commodity index declined 2.7%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasuries declined with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged. The VIX index rose fractionally. The market breath was negative on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.

The market finished the Tuesday in a mixed fashion. But for the fourth time in a row, it managed to close much higher than its intra-day lows, indicating strong resistance. We got some mixed economic news. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index rose 0.5% in May from the prior month, the first such gain in three years. Sixteen out of the twenty cities showed price stablization or increase. In fact, the worst house crash in history may be behind us. The consumer confidence index, however, dropped for the second time in a row to 46.6, below 49 consensus. Clearly, rising unemployment rate weighed heavily in consumers' minds.

The latest issue of Fortune Magazine published the 500 largest global companies for 2008 ranked by revenue. Here are some interesting statistics: In total, the 500 largest companies recorded total revenues of $25.2 trillion compared to $11.5 trillion ten years ago. During the past decade, the world economy grew about 50% while the revenue grabbed by the largest 500 companies grew by more than 100%.  In other words, the bigs just keep growing bigger. The largest company is Royal Dutch Shell, a Netherlands company. In fact, seven out of the top ten companies belonged to the oil industry. Interestingly, the largest financial institution also belonged to Netherlands, which is ING Group. The top 25 companies by revenue are shown below:

Most major sectors finished the session modestly lower led by basic materials and energy. The CRB commodity index declined 0.9%. The US dollar was lower against most major currencies. Treasuries were little changed. The three-month US LIBOR dropped 1 bps to 49 bps, another record low. The VIX index rose fractionally. The market breath was neutral on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.

The market kicked off the new week with a positive tone. After spending most time under water, all three major indexes finished the session modestly higher. Earnings news was relatively light today while we did get some positive developments in the housing front. New home sales for June came at a stronger than expected pace of 384K units. A reading of 352K had been expected. We are going to get S&P Shiller home index tomorrow and I won't be surprised if some areas start to see higher prices from the previous month.

For the week ending on July 24th, an important change emerged. Quite a few major indexes, including Dow Utilties, Nasdaq, NYSE and Wilshire 5000, saw their 200-day moving averages start to slope up. The Dow and the S&P 500 are close to join the group. In other words, we can officially say goodbye to the bear market. That's right. We are now entering into a new bull market at least from a technical perspective! Sectorwise, several subgroups registered double-digit gains in the past week. On top of the list, we had names such as solar, leisure and casino, and hedge funds. Commerical banks and flat panel makers were at the bottom of the list.

Most major sectors finished the session modestly higher led by financial and industrial. The CRB commodity index rose 0.2%. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies. Treasuries fell with the yield curve steepened. The three-month US LIBOR was unchanged at 50 bps. The VIX index rose by more than 1 point. The market breath was positive on both NYSE and Nasdaq. The volume was neutral compared to the previous session.