Stocks closed higher Friday as the Nasdaq composite wiped away the prior day's losses and two of its big components, Facebook (FB) and Amazon.com (AMZN), regained a key price level.
X The composite added 1%. Facebook rose 1.8% and Amazon 1.4% as both closed back above their 50-day moving averages. That suggests the two bellwethers could resume their advances. Microsoft (MSFT), another big Nasdaq member, closed quite near its 50-day average as it also tries to regain momentum.
Chart readers could take comfort seeing the S&P 500 (up 0.6%) rising from a dip to the 50-day moving average. But the Nasdaq failed to recapture its own 50-day line, which The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.4%. The small-cap Russell 2000 added 1% at the closing bell in one of its better showing of late.
Despite solid gains for the indexes, two pieces of data were a bit bothersome. First, early figures showed volume was lower that Thursday's total. A big gain in the market should come in higher volume, especially on a day when the monthly jobs report comes out.
Second, surprisingly few stocks climbed in big volume. Stocks On The Move had only four stocks up in volume. On a good day for the market, the table runs to about 20 stocks.
On that table, National Beverage (FIZZ) was significant because it broke out of a flat base with a 96.15 buy point. Volume was not necessarily impressive and the base was a riskier late-stage pattern. The maker of Shasta, La Croix and other soft drinks is part of an industry group that's risen to the top 15 of 197 groups.
Stocks responded well to the June payrolls report, which showed an increase of 222,000 jobs, above the expected 170,000 gain. Also, the April and May totals were revised upward by 47,000.
The numbers are expected to keep the Federal Reserve on track for another interest-rate increase later this year, but that didn't hurt the rate-sensitive homebuilders, a group that rose more than 2% in today's market and had some interesting individual performances.
Other leading groups were heavy on the technology field, including chips, software and telecom. Energy, metals and some transportation groups lagged. Yet, the Dow transports led with a 1.3% jump thanks in part to a strong airlines industry.
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