Markets concluded Friday with gains as they overcame some early afternoon weakness. On a weekly basis the S&P 500 outperformed the Nasdaq with a .1% gain and the Nasdaq fell .5%. The Nasdaq still leads on a YTD basis with a 29.9% advance compared with the S&P 500’s 23.5% move. Since the Nasdaq closed above the 3900 level on 10/18 it has refused to buckle when challenged and has closed above the round figure everyday. The 4000 number still looms large. Markets did not seem to respond with as much vigor as one would have thought to with the benign economic reports brought forth this week. Guess its still only bad news is good news. This week delivered good auto and retail sales. ISM came in much stronger than forecast too. Most concerning to me this week was the weakness exhibited by one of the top ranked tech groups, the internet. Of course the 800lb gorilla in the sector was up 1% this week, but a plethora of others had very rough weeks. Other well known names LNKD and FB fell 9% and 4% respectively. WWWW down 9%, TRLA lower by 12% and LOGM fell 7%. IACI fell 3% on the week but notice how it found bids and reversed almost precisely at the round 50 handle. That being said seasonality patterns suggest we should get a move higher into year end. If IPO’s are any indication with TWIT on deck batting clean up, new issues continue to shine and TCS, could not contain itself Friday,pun intended, up more than 150% in its debut.

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