The stock market had every reason to drop today-and didn't.
It had to contend with:
1) a poor 5-year Treasury auction, which caused rates in the middle and upper end of the yield curve to back up, putting pressure on home builders, REITs, retailers, and other interest rate sensitive stocks
2) a strong dollar, which for the second day put pressure on commodities, commodity stocks and the overall market
3) a big drop in crude oil(down 6 percent) on a stronger than expected build in inventories
4) a 5 percent drop in the Shanghai Composite Index, its biggest decline since November, which also put pressure on commodity stocks.
Yet the market didn't drop. True, energy stocks were weak throughout the day, but the Dow was never down more than 80 points, and rallied into the close, coming within a few points of break even.
Many traders believe that day traders are a factor in the market's resilience. Under this theory, traders come in mid-morning and short the market aggressively, but many must cover by the end of the day, which has created a natural upward bias.
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- The Dow 30 in Real Time
- Slideshow: The 10 Hottest Commodities of 2009
- Slideshow: Companies at Greatest Risk for Default
- Slideshow: Largest IPOs In US History
- The CNBC Stock Blog
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