July 2nd, 2013

Most of the broader markets began the day with modest gains, and ended the day with modest losses after stocks dipped into the negative in the afternoon session.  My watch list is very much mixed, with about half the stocks on my watch list posting gains and the other half posting losses.

In major news today, housing prices rose 2.6% from April to May of this year, and comparing May of 2013 to May of 2012, housing prices rose 12.2%.  This is very good news for the housing market, and very good news for the broader economy in general.  Housing price increases indicate housing sales, and housing sales mean a boost to the broader economy.  Even if the homes being sold are existing homes, people need to buy appliances, furniture, electronics, decorations, etc. to put in the homes they buy.  So, home sales give a nice boost to the broader economy in general.

Also today, it was reported that auto sales for June were stronger than anticipated with most major auto makers reporting meeting or beating their sales forecasts.  Auto sales account for over 10% of all retail sales in America, so a strong auto industry is a good sign for the economy in general as well.

On the whole, though, looks like trading activity is still light with it being summer time, especially with everyone gearing up for the Fourth of July in a couple of days.  Most people probably are heading to the beach instead of trading (must be nice, huh?).

Anywho maybe we'll all be in that same situation some day.  Would be nice eh?

I wanted to post a picture of AAPL's stock as well.  Looks like they're still heading up, and I marked in pink an upper resistance level and a lower support level.  Looks like the stock is coming off a lower support of around $390 and has an upper resistance of around $450.  It's currently trading at about $423 so it's got a little bit of room to run before it hits that ceiling.