It’s another day of green for the major markets.  Retail stocks are helping propel the market higher.  The DOW is up over 100 points thanks in large part to Nike’s (NKE) announcement of 14% dividend increase, a 2-1 stock split and a $12 billion stock buyback.  The Retail ETF (XRT) is posting its best week in about 3 years.   Healthcare and consumer discretionary are helping the S&P 500 move higher.  UnitedHealth Care and Aetna are among some of the healthcare stocks feeling better today as they gain back some of their losses.

Overall, looks like the markets are on track to end the week with a 3.5% gain.  Energy prices stabilizing and more comments from Mario Draghi, European Central Bank President, this time that the ECB is prepared to "do what (it) must to raise inflation as quickly as possible" if its current policy doesn’t spur its economy, are helping investors gain confidence.

Oil is down yet again as is Gold, as the greenback trade up. Treasury yields were down today with the 10-year is hovering around 2.24% and the 2-year at 0.88%.

Tesla is having a rough ride and is down about 2% as it announced that it is recalling all of its Model S sedans, over 90,000, due to a potential seat belt defect. This could indeed be a sign of a tough road ahead for the company.  I guess we will have to wait to get more details.

For now, the resolve of the market remains solid.  The Dow’s key resistance point is 17920.  And while the bias is to the upside, the volume is not convincing.

Have a great weekend.