Markets leapt Thursday with the Nasdaq leading the way with a 1.3% gain and the S&P 500 by 1%. The Nasdaq hit an all time high and it broke away from its bullish ascending triangle after refusing to buckle below the round 5000 number with bullish hammers on 6/9 and 6/15. The S&P 500 not wanting to be left out of the party took out its own ascending triangle above 2120 which it originally took out on 5/14. That looked like it had failed on 5/26 with a 1% drop, but the technical damage seems to have repaired itself. Another positive trait from Thursdays action was the volume, which had been absent somewhat from up sessions recently. For the week heading into Friday the Nasdaq is up 1.6% and the S&P 500 by 1.3%. All of the major 10 S&P sectors were higher Thursday with healthcare and utility plays leading the way, representing a broad advance with growth and defensive groups participating. The utilities which have been laggards YTD may be ready to spring to life after being the top performers in 2014. They were hit in the beginning in January this year and the softness continued with the talk of interest rates rising, dampening some of their allure with there robust yields. One name in the group which sports nice risk/reward is SCG which we profiled in our Thursday 6/11 Game Plan. It bounced off the round 50 handle recently and while you wait for appreciation you will be handsomely paid a dividend yield of 4.2%. Below is how it was presented in our 6/11 report.
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