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The market started the new week in a rather muted fashion. All three major indices spent most time of the day hovering around the unchanged level and closed within 0.2% from the previous session. The Dow Transportation Average continued to be a star performer and closed at a new high for this year. There is little economic news but we have some sizeable M&A deals including one involving Mars, Wrigley and Berkshire Hathaway with a price tag of $23 billion. Earnings continued to be the major driving force behind market activities. With more than half of the S&P 500 companies having reported their earnings, the results are actually not as bad as some had feared before the earnings season kicked off: Excluding financials, companies delivered an impressive earnings growth of more than 10% for the latest quarter.
Consumer Cyclicals and Transportations were among the winners for the day. Commodities pulled back a little bit despite a positive movement in the CRB commodity index. The US dollar ended lower against most major currencies although it managed to retain most of the gain from the previous week. Treasuries rallied a little following the sharp sell off last week. With the Fed starting its 2-day meeting tomorrow, the market will wait patiently for the decision, which is scheduled to be released at 2:15 pm on Wednesday afternoon. Interestingly, we are also going to get some important economic data including Q1 GDP and ADP report on the same day. So enjoy the quiet time as long as you can.
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