Markets rose Friday to end a solid week for the indexes. The Nasdaq which has been a leader all year long gained 3.2% this week, up everyday almost doubling the S&P 500’s 1.7% weekly rise. This week was the third 3% plus weekly jump on 2015 with the weeks ending 2.13 and 3/20 producing similar moves. On a YTD basis the Nasdaq still maintains a very comfortable advantage with a 7.5% gain compared to the S&P 500’s 2.8% advance. This week some of the behemoths of the benchmark reported earnings giving it a boost. Four of the 6 largest components on the Nasdaq reported earnings this week with AMZN jumping 18%, MSFT by 15 and GOOGL rose almost 8% on the week. Today of course BIIB released numbers that were not well received by the street falling 6.6% and undercutting its 50 day SMA to the downside for the first time in more than 6 months. Surprisingly the IBB fell just 1.1% with BIIB being its second largest component. Other names failed to fall in sympathy most notably CELG which lifted 2.3% but failing to recapture its 50 day SMA. Semiconductors were hit this week and one has to keep in mind that with the 2 aforementioned groups doing most of the heavy lifting for the Nasdaq one should be at least concerned. Especially now that the index is just beneath all time highs made 15 years ago. Another group which was hit this week which is an important one was the homebuilders. Weekly losses of 9 and 6% by PHM and DHI which both reported earnings this week should raise your suspicions too. Is it something to be troubled by or is this market just going to keep climbing the wall of worry?

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