Its relatively quiet today.  The Dow and S&P 500 are down, while Nasdaq is holding on to its gains. Consumer Discretionary and Technology continue to move higher.  FAANG, with the exception of Netflix (NFLX), which is giving up some of its stellar gains from yesterday, are all up on the day. 

Homebuilders are among the best performers on the strength of the beat on the housing starts and building permits report.

Oil is relatively flat today with WTI trading at $53.30 per barrel. Energy is the worst performing sector.  Natural gas is also giving up ground, down 2.7%.

The greenback is lower, as investors begin to worry about inflation. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury has ticked higher and is up to 1.104%.  Investors have been buying up municipal bonds, betting that a stimulus package under President Biden will include aid for state and local governments. 

Bitcoin is get smacked around again today, down over 10% and is at $31,542 .  Gold is also down slightly, trading at $1864 per ounce, but silver and copper are up.   

Breadth is negative with decliners outpacing advancers; however, the up volume on the Nasdaq is much higher than the down volume.  New highs are also continuing to blow away new lows.  Actually, there is only 1 new low on the NYSE.

The VIX, also known as the volatility index, is up 1.11% today to 21.82. But overall, investors don’t seem too worried about any significant pullback.