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Stocks Close Higher; Is It Time For Industrials, Commodities To Lead?

Stocks closed moderately higher Thursday, although indexes faded in the final hours of trading.

X The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 added 0.2% while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%. The S&P 500 had been up as much as 0.5%.

Small caps led after the Russell 2000 jumped 0.6%. The NYSE composite rose 0.6% and seemed to benefit from strength in industrial stocks. The composite has a higher weighting in industrial companies than the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq.

Volume fell from Wednesday's totals, according to preliminary readings. Trading has been slowing all week, which is no surprise ahead of the holiday break. Winners led losers by 9-to-5 on the Nasdaq and NYSE.

Energy, metals and other industrial stocks kept producing breakouts, although most were in light volume. Marathon Oil (MRO) cleared a 16.69 buy point in trading nearly 20% more than normal. BP (BP) rose above a 41.65 buy point in below-average trade. RPC (RES) topped a 26.55 entry but volume was one of the lowest of the week. Mining company BHP Billiton (BHP) broke out of a flat base past 44.72 in flat volume.

Drilling, exploration, oilfield services and other energy industry groups were among the best performing. Utilities continued their meltdown, with the Dow utilities average off 1.3% in today's trading and nearly 6% lower for the month.

Dow component Boeing (BA) fell modestly after it confirmed it is in talks to acquire Brazilian aerospace company Embraer (ERJ). Embraer shares soared 22% and made a new high before paring gains. The talks follow a deal that gave Boeing rival Airbus (EADSY) a controlling stake in the regional jet business of Canada's Bombardier (BDRBF), namely the C Series jetliners.

Intel (INTC), another Dow component, slipped below its 47.40 buy point just one day after clearing that entry, but volume was about 25% below average — much less than in the breakout and the rally leading up to that.

A better breakout came from WisdomTree Investments (WETF), which cleared a long cup-with-handle base. Shares of the ETF company closed near the 12.48 buy point in strong volume. Also looking stronger was heavy construction company MasTec (MTZ), which cleared an undefined pattern.

Etsy (ETSY) climbed to a new high as shares leapt more than 5% in above-average volume. The arts and crafts online marketplace has climbed more than 20% from the 17.70 buy point of a breakout on Dec. 4.

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