U.S. stock indexes posted solid price gains Monday, but volume fell far off Friday's already lackluster pace.
The Nasdaq rose 0.7%, while the S&P 500 and the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average each gained 0.5%. The small cap S&P 600 led with a 1% gain. Volume in the stock market today ran about 20% lower on the NYSE and about 15% lower on the Nasdaq.
On the Nasdaq, volume fell for the third session in a row.
Blue chips were mostly up. In the 30-stock Dow, Apple (AAPL) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) led the pack with 2% gains each. The day's worst performer in the Dow was Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), which fell 1% in soft trade. Wal-Mart has fallen in six consecutive sessions. On Friday, RBC Capital lowered the price target on Wal-Mart from 76 to 75 with an underperform rating.
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Among IBD's 197 industry groups, energy-related stocks grabbed six of the top 10 spots. The beaten-down solar stocks did well. The solar group climbed about 3%. Solar stocks do better when the price of oil is high, making the green energy sources more competitive with oil. West Texas intermediate crude oil rose about 2% Monday, bringing it above $51 a barrel.
Solar companies also could benefit if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election. Clinton is promising subsidies for solar that could cost anywhere from $27 billion to $62 billion, according to analysts. With last year's federal deficit coming in at $440 billion and fiscal 2016's estimated at $588 billion, it isn't clear where the money for the wealth transfer to solar would come from. But the stock market is unlikely to care, just as long as it comes.
The solar stock group has room to run, if it is fired up. The group declined about 70% from its September 2014 high. None of the solar stocks is highly rated. Big gainers Monday included low-priced August 2015 initial public offering Sunrun (RUN), up 7% in strong volume and SolarCity (SCTY), up 6% in soft trade.
Oil and natural gas explorers and producers offer higher-rated stocks than the solar camp.
Of the five oil stocks in the explorer and producer group with a Composite Rating of 90 or better, two rose 2% or more. Callon Petroleum (CPE) popped about 3%; and Parsley Energy (PE), 2.5%.
The Composite Rating combines all five IBD ratings into a single number. A rating of 90 means the stock is rated in the top 10 percentile among all the stocks in IBD's database.
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