Markets jumped out of the gate and impressively held on to gains throughout the day. The Nasdaq rose .6% with the S&P 500 up .5%. The Dow which we rarely pay attention too rose .7% on the back of V taking out the round 220 handle jumping 4 handles. Remember it is a price weighted index, therefore the better the higher priced stocks do, the stronger the impact on the index. Merger Monday and well received earnings reports helped the benchmarks achieve decent gains. ACM announced it will purchase URS, and both jumped handsomely with ACM higher by 10% and URS by 12%. URS had flew higher by almost 12% the week ending 7/4 and was up huge Friday before reversing. Things that make you go hmmmmm. C gapped up 3% but met stiff resistance at its 200 day SMA which occurred also in February, March and June. Tomorrow we hear from both JPM and GS. If you are a bull, there are some things to like as the utilities continue to lag. Today as a group they fell .7%. To see former best of breed names in the group like FE fall 2% today, and now in bear market mode down 20% from recent highs, it makes you wonder if risk on is here to stay. DYN was lower by almost 6% Monday and has now declined more than 18% from its most recent 52 week high. Getting back to the merger news energy leader WLL will acquire KOG, and the acquirer rose more than the aquiree as WLL ramped up almost 8%, while KOG rose almost 5%.

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