MarketView for March 30

MarketView for Wednesday, March 30 
 
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MarketView

 

Events defining the day's trading activity on Wall Street

 

Lauren Rudd

 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

 

 

 

Dow Jones Industrial Average

12,350.61

p

+71.60

+0.58%

Dow Jones Transportation Average

5,276.75

p

+15.26

+0.29%

Dow Jones Utilities Average

414.25

p

+4.74

+1.16%

NASDAQ Composite

2,776.79

p

+19.90

+0.72%

S&P 500

1,328.26

p

+8.82

+0.67%

 

Summary

 

Share prices were higher on Wednesday with activity dominated by money managers engaging in what is called “window dressing,” or buying recent winners, including energy and small-caps, and selling off loser as the quarter nears its end. Nonetheless, trading volume remains weak and the S&P 500 failed to hold above the psychologically important 1,330 level. At the same time, the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, Wall Street's favorite gauge of investor fear, fell 2.5 percent to close at 17.71, its lowest level since February 18.

 

Among the S&P 500's best performers on Wednesday were exploration company Cabot Oil & Gas, closing up 5.3 percent at $53.39. That stock is up more than 41 percent this quarter. Chesapeake Energy rose 3.1 percent to close at $34.33. It is up 32.5 percent this quarter. The S&P 500 is up 5.6 percent so far this year.

 

Small-caps, which have outdone large-caps in the first quarter, rose sharplyr.

 

Unaltered expectations for a healthy number on Friday's labor market data, following a reassuring figure on private payrolls, kept sentiment up.

 

About 6.9 billion shares changed hands on the three major exchanges, well below last year's estimated daily average of 8.47 billion shares.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI added 71.60 points, or 0.58 percent, to 12,350.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX rose 8.82 points, or 0.67 percent, to 1,328.26. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 19.90 points, or 0.72 percent, to 2,776.79.

 

Valeant Pharmaceuticals made an unsolicited bid to buy Cephalon for $5.7 billion, driving up Cephalon's share price by 28.4 percent to $75.44, while Valeant's shares rose 12.8 percent to $50.08.

 

The labor market showed further recovery in March as private-sector employers added jobs while planned layoffs fell, according to separate reports on Wednesday. The ADP report on private-sector jobs, which may not be a dependable indicator of the government's broader jobs report due on Friday, showed 201,000 jobs being created. That kept expectations intact for the Labor Department's report.