- Commentary -

November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) — Stocks closed modestly higher after light Veterans Day trading. Financials benefitted from a sense that the economy is improving and there was even a bright point in the homebuilding sector, with Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) gaining on favorable news.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,291.26, up by 44.29 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 5.50 points on the day, to finish at 1,098.51. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.82 points, and closed at 2,166.90.

ABC News released the results of its index of consumer comfort. The result? Consumers are more comfortable, at least for the week ended November 8. It was still a lousy result, with the index pegged at a negative 46.

At least some homebuilders are finding hope. Toll Brothers chief among them. The company’s shares gained on news that Toll had inked fourth-quarter sales results that were up 42% in units and 62% in dollars versus Q4 2008. Of note: cancellations of sales contracts are down.

We’ll see weekly initial jobless claims on Thursday, so don’t get too giddy.

But investor sentiment seems to be more driven by exciting news of continued stimulus than by “real world” gains in consumer spending or job growth. Can’t fight the Fed.

[Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=philip+holmes to see more commentaries by Philip Holmes.]

FirstAlert(tm) “Money Index” is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX 25 Most Actives and NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX greatest Percentage Losers and Percentage Winners (weighted against pure monetary loss/gain) indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing, as well as the general focus of the market. Of the Most Actives, last session’s trading showed 14 advancers versus 11 decliners. Volume leaders were led by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) trading 64,507,500 shares closing at $4.83 (up 1.3%), the SPDR Trust ETF (NYSE: SPY) trading 31,179,071 shares closing at $107.46 (down 0.2%) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) trading 30,600,472 shares closing at $20.49 (up 0.4%). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Losers, stocks taking the greatest monetary losses were led by Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) trading on volume of 3,804,100 shares (losing $633.3 million), Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) trading on volume of 490,000 shares (losing $174.0 million) and CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) trading on volume of 12,567,100 shares (losing $47.0 million). Of last session’s Greatest Percentage Winners, stocks making the greatest monetary gains were led by Interactive Intelligence, Inc. (NASDAQ: ININ) trading on volume of 341,941 shares (gaining $60.2 million), Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTT) trading on volume of 723,450 shares (gaining $24.4 million) and Empire Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: NYNY) trading on volume of 141,097 shares (gaining $18.4 million). The complete chart for today’s FirstAlert(tm) Money Index Synopsis is posted at investrend.com (http://www.investrend.com/fa-index). Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=%22%27Money+Index%27+Synopsis for all the most recent FirstAlert(tm) “Money Index” Synopses.

The FirstAlert(tm) Economics Calendar lists Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), EIA Petroleum Inventories (11 a.m.), Treasury auctions 30-year bonds (1 p.m.), Treasury Budget Statement for October (2 p.m.).

The FirstAlert(tm) Events Calendar showcases ATVI, MSFT, ERTS, GLUU at BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference; BHLB, FMER, AF, TMP at Sandler O’Neill & Partners East Coast Financial Services Conference; BPI, COCO, LRN, CPLA at Signal Hill Education Preview Investor Conference; CSX, DHR, GE, CAT at Citi Industrial Manufacturing & Transportation Conference; MA at Piper Jaffray Financial Services Summit; NWK, APKT, HLIT, ARRS at Needham & Company Broadband Tech Day; SUPG, DEL, DFZ, NVAX at Three Point Advisors Southwest Ideas Investor Conference; VRTX, CAH, CVS, AMGN at Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference.

FirstAlert(tm) Website of the Day: http://www.bookitprogram.com/teachers/nyrd.asp

Quote of the Day: “How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheese?” Charles de Gaulle

Today is: No observances today.

Happy Birthday: Auguste Rodin, Charles de Gaulle, Harry Blackmun, Princess Grace Kelly, Booker T. Jones, Neil Young, Megan Mullally, David Schwimmer, Michael Moorer, Sammy Sosa, Radha Mitchell, Anne Hathaway.

Today in History: Future Byzantine empress Zoe married Romanus Argyrus in 1028 according to the wishes of the dying Constantine VIII. Plymouth, England, became in 1439 the first town incorporated by the English Parliament. Jean Sylvain Bailly, first Mayor of Paris, was guillotined in 1793. The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1912. Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party in 1927, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union. Hugh Gray took the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster in 1933. A branch of the Exchange National Bank in Chicago opened the first ten drive-up teller windows in 1946. The Oregon Highway Division attempted to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now -infamous exploding whale incident of 1970. The NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn and took its first images of its rings in 1980. Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web in 1990.

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