Substantial gains mark the end of the second week of 2011. The NASDAQ appreciated 3.8 percent since December 31; the S&P500 added 2.9 percent and the DJIA rose 1.8 percent in the past 10 days. These increases happened despite several up-then-down days and some modest changes. Thus the move to higher stock prices, begun at the end of August, continues.
The NASDAQ rose nearly 30 percent since the August 31, 2010 low, 94 trading days ago. The index exceeded that pace just 20 times since the March 2009 low. Going further back, only 26 such runs characterized the 2003/2007 expansion.
The other two indices, while also moving substantially higher, failed to match the NASDAQs stride. The S&P500 added 19 percent and the DJIA increased 18 percent during this expansion.
It seems that this good news failed to gain attention because the market persisted in moving up and down as well as changing only slightly on many days. The S&P500, for example, posted 5 gains and 5 advances during the last two weeks, whereas in 2010, that ratio was 143 to 108.
DJIA - .20 percent
NASDAQ - .07 percent
S&P500 -.17 percent