Choppy, Low Volume Day

Tuesday was another choppy, low volume day in the market as major indexes continue to consolidate the big 3 week run during the past week and a half. Stock moves each day are far more sector specific but that sector changes from day to day, leading to a bit of a disjointed atmosphere as fewer stocks consistently put up gains. Yesterday the action was very specific to metals, mining, and Chinese type stocks. Technology continues to be a weak link as the NASDAQ fell 0.59% but a decent earnings report by Apple (APPL) after the bell might help this index tomorrow. The S&P 500 fell 0.19%. Economic news was light.

The S&P 500 remains above the bull flag breakout it began last Thursday but the progress has been choppy as it allows time for the 10 day moving average (now at 1681) to catch up.

The NASDAQ actually fell back below its 10 day moving average during today's session as tech stocks have been a blight on the index; biotechnology was also weak on the day. We'll see if Apple can drive this market up later today.

Speaking of, Apple (AAPL) is up about 3% in after hours on its earning report, pushing the stock to the $430s; essentially where it was a few days ago:

Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst forecasts on strong iPhone shipments, sending shares higher in late trading. But fourth-quarter sales guidance fell short. The iPhone maker posted a net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per share, on revenue of $35.3 billion versus net profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per share, on revenue of $35 billion a year earlier. Net profit was down 22 percent from a year earlier, but results still beat analyst forecasts for earnings of $7.32 per share on sales of $35.02 billion. The company shipped 31.2 million iPhones in the quarter, up 20 percent from the 26 million shipped in the year-ago quarter. It sold 14.6 million iPads, down from 17 million a year earlier. Apple's gross margin shrank to 36.9 percent from 42.8 percent a year ago.

Chinese stocks jumped after state newspaper Beijing News reported that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had said the government would not allow the country's gross domestic product growth to fall below 7 percent. FXI is a popular ETF to get exposure to Chinese stocks.

With the Chinese news the metals and mining sector picked up.

Gold also had a good day yesterday, jumping back over its 50 day moving average for the first time in a long time.

The S&P 500 has closed higher nearly every day of the past three weeks, scoring a new high in the meantime, which marks one of the top streaks in 85 years. Nearly 20 years since the last.

For 13 out of the past 15 sessions, the S&P 500 index, used as a benchmark around the world, has closed higher than the previous session's close. Its two losses were both smaller than -0.5%. The index has also managed to close at a multi-year high.

We've looked at similar streaks of momentum in the past (like on July 10th), and they've usually suggested higher prices longer-term. The table below highlight every other instance since 1928 when the S&P managed to rise 13 out of 15 days, with no losses greater than 0.5%. It also had to close at at least a 52-week high. The best results were a week later, when most of the very short-term pullbacks were reversed and stocks jumped back to a new high. Ten of the last eleven streaks were positive a week later, and the exception was for only a tiny loss. After that, the S&P's performance was surprisingly mixed, in line with random or even a bit worse.

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