today

although it was looking like the market was going to drift into the close sporting modest gains on the day, a spurt of buying about 90 minutes before the final bell drove the averages higher. technology was the biggest winner, with the nasdaq 100 sporting gains of almost 2% while materials and energy lagged. the bounce in the greenback also triggered some additional profit-taking in solar, steel and agriculture stocks.

certainly, the pullback in crude prices today will be given the credit for this slight bounce, the fact is that the market was due for some relief buying after the very poor action last week. the big question, however, is if the selling last week was just another step in the recovery process for this market and if the action today was an initial step in repairing that damage. for those that believe, given the lack of volume – which turned out to be even lower than friday’s volume – and vigor, many doubt that today’s session was any more than an oversold bounce.