Despite a rather negative opening, the stock market ended the day modestly higher. The Dow, which gained 0.4% for the session, continued to lag behind the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, both of which posted a gain of around 0.75%. There is no economic news so the market movement is more of an action of its own. It is quite impressive that the market moved higher despite several negative earnings reports from financial and homebuilding sectors. Also, the market shrugged off negative impact from yet another record high oil price.

All 10 major industrial sectors closed the day in the green territory. Commodities and transportations were among the noticeable leaders. The Dow Transportation Average closed at another high for the year. So far in 2008, it has gained 17.5% year-to-day and is only 3% below the historical high, which was reached last July before the sub-prime drama entered its centre stage. The CRB commodity index closed the day higher by more than 1% with gains seen across the board. The US dollar ended the day modestly lower while the treasuries were mixed. The yield curve, meanwhile, continued to get steepened. After the bell, both Disney and Cisco posted better than expected earnings results, which should give the market an early boost tomorrow. Apparently, investors are becoming more confident now compared to just two months ago as seen by more risk taking activities in the market. However, it is probably time to remind ourselves of the famous saying by Warren Buffett “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”. Something just never changes.