Still catching a bid on the last day of Feb

While unusual for historical trends, U.S. markets up with the DIA up .79%, SPY up .56%, and the IWM and QQQQ up fractionally.

NYSE Breadth was 20 up for every 10 down. 204 issues made new 50-day highs.

Cigarettes led by PM up .53 to 62.78.

Commodities led by Silver up .55 to 33.11, Coffee (JO) up 1.18 to 72.51, and Cocoa (NIB) up .63 to 52.83.

Energy was the second best performing sector, up .77 to 78.54 via the XLE.

AAPL was up 5 to 353.21. The iPad 2 will premiere in U.S. stores on Mar 2.

JOYG up 3.67 to 97.38. Earnings to be released before the bell on Mar 2.

Market avgs up, as funds vote with their buy orders

Feels like the early selloff this week was just to shakeout the weakest longholders. Feels like equities are up because its better than earning .01% interest in a savings account and having the chance to earn dividends.

IWM up 2.32%, QQQQ up 1.4%, SPY up 1.07%, DIA up .6%

NYSE Breadth was 23 stocks up for every 7 down. 107 issues reached new 50-day highs.

Independent Oil led by DNR up .97 to 24.32 (up 15% for the month of Feb).

Oil Drillers led by CXO up 2.26 to 109.79 (up all but two days in Feb).

DECK was disappointing, opening at 94 and selling off all day closing at 88.30 (down 1.50). Funds vote with their money and not exactly a reassuring tone of confidence.

Oversold bounce in IWM & QQQQ as SPY & DIA continue declines

IWM & QQQQ rose for opening 30 minutes before a slow decline for 3 hours. Then the averages dropped below yesterday's support line and below 1300 on the S&P for 45 minutes before a buy program saved the averages into the close.

IWM up .57%, QQQQ up .55%, SPY down .10%, DIA down .37%

Breadth was even at 15 to 15. Only 48 issues made new 50 day new highs.

PCLN was a missed opportunity as it rose another 16 1/2 points from yesterday's afterhours to make call buyers happy. The highest print was in the opening 3 minutes at 469, but managed a final 36 1/2 point gain to close at 462.50.

Agriculture led by POT rebounding 1.96 to 174.60.

Cigarettes led by PM up .31 to 62.29.

Light Sweet Crude was initially over $101/barrel for April Delivery but actually closed down on the day to 96.59. As of 2am EST Fri, its at 98.25.

Afterhours, DECK reported record earnings. The stock was up 2.60 in the regular session as it broke above its daily high around 3:15pm where most of the gains started occurring. It was up another 4 pts to 94 at 7pm EST.

Second distribution day in all averages, watching PCLN

IWM down 1.64%, QQQQ down 1.21%, DIA down .88%, SPY down .61%

Bounceback rally lasted for the opening 30 min then sold off. Program buyers didn't step in until the S&P 500 touched 1299.55 and held the line for one day.

Breadth was 19 down for every 11 up. 62 issues closed at 50-day highs.

Cable Television led by DTV up .80 to 45.03.

Cigarettes led by PM up .44 to 61.98.

Cocoa via the NIB up 1.47 to 52.04.

Light Sweet Crude Oil was the best commodity up 2.50 to 98.50 for April delivery.

Major Intergrated Oils up. COP up 1.96 to 78.57, CVX up 1.95 to 102.27, XOM up 1.63 to 87.07.

Nasdaq Big-Caps led by AAPL up 4.01 to 342.62, GOOG up 1.11 to 611.32. All the rest were down, NFLX down 11.40 to 211.20, BIDU down 4.38 to 115.90, ISRG down 3.97 to 327.14, AMZN down 3.74 to 176.68, WYNN down 2.73 to 120.34, DECK down 1.80 to 87.24.

Silver rose .45 to 32.71.

Afterhours PCLN reported earnings. Before 4pm the stock closed down 7.79 to 425.99. Initially after the release at 4:01pm, the stock dropped to a 387.50 print for a few minutes. As the conference call commenced, the stock recovered and closed the afterhours session up almost 20 points to 445.90. If it holds here, it will wipe out all 2/25 call and put options holders who were playing the earnings game.

Distribution Day Post President's Day

QQQQ down 2.74%, IWM down 2.62%, SPY down 2.05%, DIA down 1.44%.

After the 1% gap down, the buy the dippers tried to rally the markets for the next forty-five minutes before selling resumed and broke the first hour lows.

Breadth was 26 down for every 3 up. Only 45 issues made 50-day new highs.

Silver was the top performing sector via the SLV up .48 to 32.26. The mess in Libya is giving everyone an excuse to sell.

Cigarettes managed a positive gain with PM up .11 to 61.54.

Other commodities up on the day include Coffee (JO) up .44 to 72.87, Cocoa (NIB) up 1.21 to 50.27, Gold (GLD) up .88 to 136.29.

Food led by HRL up .42 to 27.34.

HMOs continued their good run in Feb, HS up .94 to 38.

Light Sweet Crude Oil moved higher although off their highs closing up 5.30 to 95.26. CVX up 1.60 to 100.32, XOM up .94 to 85.44. But refiners were killed today, CVI down .97 to 19.44, FTO down 1.15 to 26.97, VLO down 1.25 to 28.17.

Nasdaq Big-Cappers were taken out and shot today with most closing below their ATR sell stops. GOOG down 19.87 to 610.21, PCLN down 15.15 to 433.78, NFLX down 13.91 to 221.60, AAPL down 11.95 to 338.61, ISRG down 9.81 to 331.11, BIDU down 6.52 to 120.28, AMZN down 6.08 to 180.42, WYNN down 4.63 to 123.07, JOYG down 3.51 to 96.52.

Options Ex Fri, all U.S. avgs close up .1% to new highs, DIA up .6%

Most of the trading desks vacated on Thur to enjoy a four-day weekend. As the markets were closed Mon for the President's Day holiday, action should return to normal with retailers in the spotlight on the earnings front this week.

Last Fri, 275 issues closed at new 50-day highs.

Apparel was led by PSS up .35 to 23.44.

Commodities was the top sector led by Silver up .76 to 31.79, JO up .57 to 72.43. However, BAL got chopped 12.94 to 98.06.

Software led by INTU as TurboTax is still the most popular do-it-yourself program for Americans to compile their federal tax returns, up 3.67 to 54.11. ADBE up .41 to 35.39.

Cable Television led by CMCSA up .45 to 25.67 (every dip has been bought since Jan 30).

Cigarettes led by PM up .59 to 61.43. (up everyday but one in the month of Feb).

Coal led by JOYG up 1.96 to 100.03.

Dow component HD up .30 to 38.48. They report earnings before the bell on Tue.

Food was led by HRL up .40 to 26.92 (Six straight up days, since 90% of Americans eat some serving of meat, they'll just trade down to SPAM).

Medical Instruments & Supplies was led by SYK up 2.22 to 63. Possible rotation into sectors that underperformed the averages in January.

Metal Fabrication led by VMI up 12.70 to 110.26.

Nasdaq Big-Cappers mostly down, AAPL down 7.74 to 350.56 (while rumors about CEO Steve Jobs likely removed buying support in the final hour, word over the weekend is the updated MacBook Pro shipped to retail stores and will be seen on Feb 24), PCLN down 6.34 to 448.93, BIDU down 1.74 to 126.80, AMZN down 1.26 to 186.50. GOOG bucked the negative trend with a gain of 4.82 to 630.08.

Oil was led by OXY up 1.52 to 107.37 (five straight up day after staying above the $100 barrier.), COP up 1.10 to 76.62, CVX up 1.55 to 98.72.

REITs led by PSA up 1.26 to 111.65.

New highs in the IWM, SPY, & DIA

Despite a selloff in the final 45 minutes, three of the four major U.S. indexes closed at 52-week highs. IWM up .7%, SPY up .3%, DIA up .25%. The QQQQ finished down two pennies.

Breadth was 18 positive for every 12 down. 304 issues closed at 50-day highs.

Silver was the best performing sector with the SLV up 1.07 to 31.03.

Coal was led by JOYG up 1.19 to 98.07.

Commodities led by BAL 4.58 to 108.81, JO up 2.22 to 72.

As mentioned last night, CLF led Industrial Metals closing up 6.64 to 99.52 on impressive earnings (although it was near 102 last yesterday).

Oil Refining was the second best performer. TSO up 1.37 to 25.83, FTO up 1 to 28.94, VLO up 1.11 to 30.29, WNR up .42 to 18.03, CVI up .31 to 21.30, HOC up .38 to 60.52, OIH up 2.98 to 163.84.

Retail was led by DECK up 6.32 to 90.57 on no news. They report earnings after the bell on Feb 24.