Stocks look ready to take a rest today ahead of tomorrow's Federal Reserve meeting. Futures point to a lower opening that could crimp the Dow's run into record territory. European stocks are weaker, and Asian markets were mostly lower over night though China's stock market surged 3% to an all-time high.
Partying Like It's 1999
The Dow scored yet another record yesterday on a modest rise, but a rise nonetheless taking it to five record closes in a row. The last time the Dow had a streak of five record closes was in 1999 (April 12 to April 16). Its longest record streak was in 1987 with 12 consecutive record closes.
Some of the market's move has confounded even the savviest traders, who were betting by now the run would have stopped. Our Bob Pisani said he spoke to a few traders who bet against the bull and lost money last week.
"Every time their instincts said this is the time to short, let's take profits, they've been wrong," he said. "It's been a kind of slow and plodding and not very exciting market every day. You get more and more advancing than declining stocks, but not dramatically."
"It's a very slow, tortuous bull market and cyclicals continue to outperform the whole market," Pisani said. "It's the kind of market that doesn't attract attention but it's tremendously profitable to buy and hold right now."
Riding the Rally
Today on CNBC, in every hour of the day, we will look at strategies to use in key industry sectors. We will dissect which groups should move higher and which are ready to go down. We'll also take a look at which sectors will play in the merger game.
Earnings Central
Some big earnings to watch for today including Disney and Cisco . Our Jim Goldman says there's some optimism this could be a good quarter for Cisco despite the flattish performance of its stock recently.
Oil Bubbling
Oil is firmer this morning as attacks in Nigeria pressured prices, possibly ending a six-day losing streak.
