The market was helped today after March new home sales data showed the largest jump in 47 years, a 27% surge. The data release launched equities to new highs for the ongoing rally. Don't get too excited though, the sales numbers are bouncing off the record lows in February. The market left behind Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) which lost 1.3% and 4.3%, respectively, after their disappointing earnings reports. Goldman Sachs (GS) was also weak losing 1% on day. It didn't matter though, the Dow gained 70 points for the day and closed at new highs. So much for GS marking the top! It's clearly being thought of as an isolated incident even though investors suffer from a complete lack of knowledge as to how deeply systemic the GS practices were and still are.Definitely check out Barry Ritholtz's "Ten Things You Don’t Know (or were misinformed by the Media) About the GS Case" on The Big Picture. He argues that the case against GS is not weak, it is not a one-time incident, the SEC director is a "bad ass" and GS will lose or settle.
My chart of the six primary strategies of high frequency trading was published over on Zero Hedge, one of the largest market-related blogs out there. It's getting a good amount of attention and plenty of comments.
My buy on gold (GLD) yesterday turned out pretty well today. The $114 level will be my area to add into the position. I also picked up a small position in Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM). The $62 level will serve as a nice technical buy trigger and with earnings on April 30th, AEM has the possibility of jumping into the report. Q3 2009 was a brutal report so we'll see if the fundamentals have improved next Friday. Nike (NKE) took the day off, just holding it.