Stocks opened higher on Friday, but headlines from Europe again interrupted
what looked like it would be a strong day for U.S. stocks. After 45 minutes of
trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained over 100 points. But it was
destined not to last when markets plunged on a warning from Fitch that it might
cut the ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. By noon,
the Dow was off 50 points, but by early afternoon it had clawed its way back to
breakeven and traded in a narrow range for the remainder of the day. And so
despite quadruple witching day the day that options expire for index options,
index futures, stock options, and single stock futures the day ended flat.
Volume, however, was very high with the NYSE trading 1.8 billion shares and the
Nasdaq crossing over 1 billion shares. Advancers exceeded decliners on the Big
Board by 1.6-to-1 and by 1.3-to-1 on the Nasdaq. Click to Enlarge The S&P 500 is
in a narrow trading range triangle with a top at 1,260 and bottom at 1,180. It
has turned down from its 200-day moving average and last week broke both the
20-day and 50-day moving averages.
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