MarketView for June 20

Summary

The S&P 500 scored its third record closing high in a row on Friday, while for the week, the three major equity indexes rose 1 percent as geopolitical concerns about Iraq were placed on the back burner as the Street focused on the Federal Reserve's comments indicating that it will keep interest rates low for some time to come. For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq chalked up a gain of 1.3 percent.

The most notable indicators included the correlation of the CBOE Volatility Index, known as the VIX, with the S&P 500. The VIX usually moves inversely to the S&P 500. The fear gauge is near its lowest since February 2007 while the S&P 500 is at an all-time high. For the VIX to be near the lowest level in more than seven years while the S&P 500 is at a record high is causing concern that the market may be too complacent.

Oraclefell 4 percent to $40.82 and ranked among the largest declines on the S&P 500. The stock's slide came a day after the software maker posted fiscal fourth-quarter results that disappointed the Street, which was looking for more progress against rivals selling web-based services.

CarMax ended the day up 16.5 percent to close at $52.75. The stock was the S&P 500's best performer after the used-vehicle retailer reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded Street expectations.

RadioShack was among the 18 stocks that hit a 52-week low on the Big Board on Friday. The shares were at a lifetime low, dropping into penny-stock territory for the first time on heavy volume. The stock fell 10.4 percent to 92 cents. Volume was heavy after RadioShack's stock fell under the threshold, with about 13 million shares exchanging hands, compared with its composite 25-day average of 3.9 million shares.

Volume was higher than usual as Friday marked a "quadruple witching" day - the expiration of stock options, index options, index futures and single-stock futures. Approximately 7.2 billion shares changed hands on the major equity exchanges, well above the average of 5.5 billion shares for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.