U.S. stock indexes advanced nicely Tuesday, but volume stepped down markedly.
The Nasdaq rose 1.1%, while the S&P 500 added 0.7%. The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average crawled 0.3% higher. Small caps, which have been leading the market of late, tacked on 0.3% in the S&P 600. Volume in the stock market today declined roughly 15% on the NYSE and 10% on the Nasdaq from the previous session's pace, according to preliminary figures.
Follow-up action has been rather weak among the major indexes, but small caps and select sectors have done very well. Bulls would like to see some days of big gains in rising volume.
Banks have been the star sector recently. On Monday, 153 banks scored new highs while the two major indexes accounted for 751 new highs. Nine bank stocks now make up about half of the Big Cap 20, which is a list of the best big caps by fundamentals and technicals. On Tuesday, bank winners led losers in the Big Cap 20.
The construction aggregates and cement stocks also have been leaders. But Tuesday, they were taking a timeout. Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), Vulcan Materials (VMC) and Eagle Materials (EXP) recorded losses but without damaging the overall bullishness of their chart patterns.
Meanwhile, economic news was mostly positive.
Retail sales for October were stronger than expected, and September results were revised upward. The Street expected a 0.6% pop in October, but the percentage came in at 0.8% — above the highest estimate in the range. The September figure initially was reported at 0.6% but was revised to 1%.
Most stocks in the retail sector are currently laggards. Of the 18 groups in the retail sector, roughly two-thirds are in the bottom half among 197 industry groups. The one highly rated group is department stores, which is No. 8.
Manufacturing also topped expectations. The Empire State manufacturing gauge for November rose 1.5, also above the highest estimate in the range, according to Econoday. The Street expected a reading of minus 2.3. November marked the first positive reading since July.
Business inventories for September inched up 0.1%, falling shy of views for 0.2%.
Among IBD's 197 industry groups, oil stocks and gold miners were the day's biggest gainers. On the downside, retail held most of the biggest losses.
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