Leaders Index 12-1-15

The market had a strong session today. After opening higher the major averages gave up much of their gains before a rally in the last couple of hours of trading took them to their highs of the day at the close. The SPX led the way with a gain of 1.07% while the COMPQ rallied .93%. Volume was lower than yesterday across the board, but it was still solid. It was higher than average on the Nasd and slightly below on the New York. The small and mid cap averages trailed somewhat and the real strength was again in the semiconductor stocks with the SOX climbing 1.39%. Leading stocks had a good day as well with the leaders index gaining 1.40% on the session with volume that was only slightly lower than yesterday. It was also a bit below average. The index also made new highs on both a closing and an intraday basis, with the relative strength line of the index continuing to gain ground. The fact that the index made new highs while quite a few of it’s components are broken is a positive sign. We are in a seasonally positive time so the market will likely continue to work it’s way higher. A voting member of the Fed cast some doubt on a rate hike at the meeting next week and that helped the market rally. Jerry