Major averages were up on higher volume as optimism surged that the impasse between the House and Senate would be resolved in short order, and indeed an agreement was reached after the close. Both the NASDAQ Composite and Russell 2000 closed at new highs. The S&P 500 was up beyond its threshold level to trigger a follow through day, but the NASDAQ's move to new highs puts the market back into a de facto uptrend. The Market Direction Model has switched to a buy signal.
Republicans "fought the good fight, [but] we just didn't win," House Speaker John Boehner said. The government will reopen today until at least mid-January and the debt ceiling raised through February 7 in a deal that did little more than kick the proverbial can further down the road. Gold and silver are up sharply as the raising of the debt-ceiling and the continuance of the U.S.' profligate borrowing-and-spending habit which is in turn fueled by massive money-printing, all with no end in sight, remains the order of the day.
A number of leading stocks have bounced constructively over the last few days. Facebook (FB) and 3-D printing companies Stratasys (SSYS) and Three-D Systems (DDD) are near new highs, Invensense (INVN) has managed to uptrend even in the face of general market weakness, Infoblox (BLOX) has managed to breakout, Solarcity (SCTY) closed at new highs following last week's buyable gap-up move, and fracking company U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) continues to soar. We have reported on many of these types of names, so if your stops were not hit in recent market weakness, and you're holding positions, look for additional entry points in the form of pocket pivots and buyable gap ups.
Futures are down slightly this morning as the market may see a bit of a "sell the news" reaction to the temporary budget and debt-ceiling resolution. Investors should simply stick to their stops and remain alert to new buy points emerging in leading stocks. More details on leading stocks will be forthcoming for webinar members in today's Dr. K/G$ intra-day market webinar scheduled for this morning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific, 11:00 a.m. Eastern.