A Sleepy Day for Stocks and ETFs

Monday, September 17th, was a sleepy day on Wall Street for stocks and ETFs after last week’s fireworks.

Major U.S. stock indexes took a break today after last week’s fireworks set off by the Federal Reserve’s plans for unlimited quantitative easing.

It was the first down session since last Monday as markets consolidated.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) dropped 0.3%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) slipped 0.31%, the Nasdaq 100 (NYSEARCA:QQQ) eked out a 0.04% gain and the Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM) lost 0.67%.

Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) fell 0.8%.

The lone winner among the major indexes for the day was the Nasdaq (NYSEARCA:QQQ) which was stoked by ongoing excitement over Apple Computer. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continued making news, climbing to a new closing record in the regular session and then breaking $700 in the after hours as the new iPhone and its blazing pace of orders sparked intense interest in the company and its stock.

The New York Empire Index came in with a further decline as manufacturing activity in the eastern region slowed, falling -10.4 versus an expected 0 and a previous reading of -5.9.

Various headwinds remain, including the upcoming fiscal cliff, potential for problems in the Middle East, a slowing global economy and potential problems for Europe if policy makers can’t come together to keep Greece and Spain afloat, however, lately, the news has been all about Dr. Bernanke and Mario Draghi and their twin plans for monetary easing. Investors seem convinced that Big Ben and Super Mario have them covered and that the two powerful central bankers have now put a floor under equity prices and removed all risk from the markets. Time will tell if they are right or not.

Bottom line: A sleepy day for stocks and ETFs as markets take a breather from recent frenzied action and wait to see if “QE forever” is going to continue pushing markets higher. Best bets for QE3 include precious metals (NYSEARCA:GLD) and the Nasdaq 100 (NYSEARCA:QQQ)

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