Retail Sales Miss, Consumer Sentiment Negative, Stocks Move Higher

Well, that's what happens when computers are doing 80% of the trading, of which there isn't much, anyway.

Prior to the market open - giving the insiders plenty of time to rig set their positions, retail sales for August were reported to have risen 0.2% (in some alternate universe) on expectations of a gain of 0.5% (in an even more bizarre universe).

Stocks took a bit of a dip at the open, but were revived when University of Michigan's September consumer sentiment registered a 76.8, on expectations of 81, after showing 82.1 in August. It was the biggest miss in the history of the survey and the lowest reading in five months.

Naturally, stocks recovered and the Dow quickly shot up to about a 70-point gain and stayed their the rest of the session.

It was one of the best weeks of recent memory for the indices. The Dow gained 453 points for the week, while the S&P was up almost two percent, posting a gain of 32.82 points. The NASDAQ was the laggard, up 62.17 or 1.70%.

All of this makes perfect sense when one understands that the average stock position is held for something like seven seconds and that volume was so low today that it scarcely registered.

Then again, Twitter tweeted that it had filed papers for an IPO. The initial valuation is rumored to be around $10 billion, but, Twitter, as far as can be surmised, is not a profitable enterprise. Shades of the dotcom bubble.

Seems there's still some summer remaining at the Hamptons.

Dow 15,376.06, +75.42 (0.49%)
Nasdaq 3,722.18, +6.22 (0.17%)
S&P 500 1,687.99, +4.57 (0.27%)
10-Yr Bond 2.90%, -0.01
NYSE Volume 2,931,141,750
Nasdaq Volume 1,421,610,875
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3975-2516
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 175-75
WTI crude oil: 108.21, -0.39
Gold: 1,308.60, -22.00
Silver: 21.72, 0.429