Updated throughout the week
Thursday’s Close for Dec 24th, 2009
Written by: Mike Coval

So we go into the holiday with a slight drift higher, nothing spectacular but still a light volume move to the upside.

To watch a video of Monday’s market action, along with my thoughts, Click here. The DOW closed up 44 points at 10,511 while the NASDAQ closed higher by 14 to finish the day at 2,284.

Energy: Oil prices were up slightly and appear to be forming a bottom at the $72.00 level. Late in the day, the price of crude futures were trading up $0.54 at $77.21 a barrel. Track the price of crude with the Oil ETF, USO.

Economic News: The Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits dropped by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 452,000 in the week ended Dec. 19, from an unrevised 480,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected claims would fall by just 10,000 to 470,000. The last time initial claims were lower was the week of Sept. 6, 2008, when they stood at 447,000.

Healthcare: The Senate approved health-care legislation sending the sector lower. Managed-care companies WellPoint, WLP, Humana, HUM and Aetna, AET were among the health-care sector's decliners.

Consumer Services: Silgan Holdings Inc. SLGN gained $2.81 on heavy volume after the Stamford, Conn., maker of packaging for consumer goods announced it will join the S&P Mid-Cap 400 Index after trading closes on Dec. 31.

Homework: Next week I’ll start a new homework series on bond ETF’s, explaining what they are and how an investor might use these in their account to balance out their portfolio. All articles will then be archived in the Incometrader.com homework section.

Cheers,
Mike