Two weeks back I wrote about the S&P 500  Missile Launching and Bunker Building.  Not much has changed since then or has it?  Let’s have a look:

DAILY S&P Chart on May 29:

DAILY S&P Chart today:

Two changes to note here:

1.  The S&P has cleared the 200 TANK resistance (along with the DOW).  The NASDAQ     cleared this resistance May 26. 

2.  The S&P has cleared the tight channel and the strong upward price resistance and has now formed another multi-day channel (see the aqua blue box). 

WEEKLY S&P Chart:

The WEEKLY chart, however,  is now nearing strong resistance at 50 TANKS (the top aqua blue line on the DAILY chart) along with the DOW.  The NASDAQ again is in the

The markets rebounded from yesterday’s lag in a rally led by financials and energy, as the Dow Jones was up 0.86% to close at 8750.24.  The NASDAQ was up 1.32%, closing at 1850.02, while the S&P 500 closed at 942.46, up 1.15% for the day.  The 10-year yield rose 3.076% as prices for the treasury fell.  Crude and gold both were up today settling at $68.81 and $982.30 respectively. 

Energy stocks were the main reason for a gain in the markets as Exxon [XOM: 72.98, +0.90 (+1.25%)], Chevron [CVX: 69.79, +1.53 (+2.24%)], and ConocoPhillips [COP: 45.97, +0.34 (+0.75%)] all saw significant run ups today.  One of the main reasons for the rally in energy was that an analyst from Goldman Sachs made a forecast that energy shortages are likely to return, driving futures to a seven month high.  The same analyst from Goldman

Too far, too fast? Currencies give back some ground…Did China send a message? The Mogambo and more! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! I hope your Memorial Day Holiday weekend was grand… We had beautiful days Friday and Saturday, but Sunday and Monday brought the monsoons! Still… I got to spend time with family and friends, and attend a Cardinals game! YAHOO!

Well… Recall on Friday morning, I told you about how we could see wild swings because of the thinned out trading desks? Well, that’s exactly what happened… The Big Dog, euro, traded well into the 1.40 level, up to 1.4050 at one point! The currencies across the board were kicking sand in the dollar’s face and laugh. You may also recall that I said that Friday didn’t seem like a good time to buy given the strength… And that too, has played out with

Gold slid about four dollars between the Globex open on Thursday night and around 10:00 a.m. in London on Friday morning. From there, gold quietly rallied about $11…with the peak coming shortly after 9:00 a.m. on the Comex in New York…and that was it for the day.

Silver was a different animal altogether. After sliding about a dime in Far East trading, silver also began its climb starting around the same time as gold in early London trading…and by the 8:30 a.m. on the Comex…it had tacked on 40 cents. That was obviously too much strength for somebody in New York, as the rally got squashed, and half that gain disappeared.

The HUI peaked about the same time as the gold price in New York and closed quietly positive in pre-long weekend trading. But having said that, please don’t think that yesterday was a quiet trading day. Far from it. Here is

Vanguard lowers fees on 529 plan offered through the state of Nevada. 

Several national media outlets have noticed recently that fund companies have been bumping up expense ratios of their exchange-traded funds and index funds this year after a drop in assets during 2008's bear market.

If you put all of those reports together, a pattern shows up -- namely, few fund companies of any sort have been able to avoid at least a slight uptick in expenses lately. Indexing pioneer and low-cost leader the Vanguard Group has been especially highlighted for raising costs on its funds this year.

So a bit of news hitting the wires on Tuesday, the first official business day after the long Memorial Day holiday, might be worth noting. 

Vanguard put out word that as of June 1, it was dropping expense ratios on its funds used in the company's 529 college savings program. The plan is

Gold had a boring, if mildly positive, day on Friday, as many traders left their desks to get a jump on the Memorial Day weekend, locking the metal up in a tight range between $950 and $960, leading to a finish at $956.50/oz., up $2.60. For the week, gold added 2.8%.

Platinum fell off in the far East, rebounded to the New York open, then traded choppily through the rest of the day, to little ultimate effect as it ended at $1153, up $4. For the week, platinum was up 4.7%.

Silver was also off in Hong Kong, but rose sharply in Europe, peaking at $14.81, then traded inside a 20-cent range for the rest of the day, closing in the middle at $14.69, up 14 cents. For the week, silver gained a robust 5.3%. (Click here for charts)

The precious metals did well, holding onto their gains for the

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) is closing in quickly on its June 1 deadline to finish overhauling its operations, or opt for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Because that deadline is actually one week from yesterday (Monday), analysts and investors will be watching GM closely this week.

No matter which path GM chooses – conventional restructuring or bankruptcy – the U.S. Big Three of GM, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler LLC will have to adjust to the U.S. auto market’s post-financial-crisis “new reality.” Automakers will sell only 10 million cars and trucks in the U.S. market this year, the worst in at least 30 decades – and roughly 38% less than the 16 million vehicles that were sold in the United States annually in recent years before the financial collapse caused an accompanying collapse in auto sales.

Part of the reason for the

“Words from the Wise” will today come to you a bit later than usual as a result of “day-job” responsibilities. The customary commentary and a full dose of excerpts from interesting news items and quotes from market commentators will be posted during the course of the afternoon (EST).

My apologies for the inconvenience. Meanwhile, enjoy the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

From the Globex open in New York on Wednesday night…and until 3:00 a.m. New York time [4 p.m. Thursday afternoon in Hong Kong trading], gold added about five dollars or so to its price. As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, this is often a time when there are changes in market direction. Thursday was no exception. From there, gold sold off quietly until about 10:40 a.m. in New York. This selling effect was especially pronounced in silver, where it sold off about 32 cents over the same period of time.

Then from 10:40 a.m. New York time, until shortly after 2:00 p.m…both gold and silver put on quite a show to the upside. From their lows, gold tacked on a little over $18…and silver around 43 cents. Then, from about 2:15 p.m., both metals flat-lined and have done virtually nothing since. Gold volume yesterday was estimated to have been

Below are 12 extreme FDA trades for 11 companies with market caps below $200M which have pending new drug product decisions or other meetings/milestones scheduled with the FDA that are expected to have a major impact on each of the underlying stock prices as the PDUFA decision dates approach and the decision is ultimately announced. A high risk/reward trading approach to consider for speculative traders is investing a small amount of money that you can afford to lose in a basket of stocks included in extreme FDA and Clinical Trial Calendar trades, which are highlighted in periodic articles at BioMedReports.com.

Hemispherx Biopharma [HEB: 1.36, -0.10 (-6.85%)]: Ampligen (Poly I: Poly C12U) NDA (three month PDUFA decision date delay was announced on 2/18/09 as additional data was submitted by HEB within three months of original decision date). Ampligen is an experimental treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (which has no