Financials and Basic Materials Surge in Early Trading

What a difference a day makes. Financials and Basic Materials, two of the hardest hit areas of the market in yesterday's selloff, are the S&P 500's best performing sectors in today's early action. In fact, all ten of the S&P's sectors are positive in the early going, resulting in a nice surge for indices across the board. The S&P 500 (SPX) is currently trading up 29 points (2.6%) from yesterday's close to 1,148. The Dow Jones Industrials Average is currently trading up 215 points (2%) from yesterday's close to 11,025. The NASDAQ is posting the strongest gains, trading up 80 points (3.4%) from yesterday's close to 2,438. The U.S. Indexes appear to have broken their recent (2 year) currency correlation, and are now following the action in the crude oil (/QM) and gold (/GC) markets. Every selloff in gold is being met with a push higher in major U.S. Indices, while every rally in oil is being mirrored in the equities market. Keep a close eye on those two commodities throughout the day, as they are now serving as a leading indicator for market direction. The Financials Sector, which has lost 17.5% over the past 30 days, is currently up 4% on the session. The Basic Materials Sector, which has lost 19.2% over the past 30 days, is currently up 3.1% on the session. The strongest stocks trading in the S&P 500 Financials Sector in today's action currently are: 1) Citigroup C: Shares of Citigroup are currently trading up 9.9% from yesterday's close to $30.72. 2) Hartford Financials HIG: Shares of Hartford are currently trading up 9.7% from yesterday's close to $19.36. 3) SLM Corp. SLM: Shares of SLM are currently trading up 8.6% from yesterday's close to $13.01. 4) Bank of America BAC: Shares of Bank of America are currently trading up 7.8% from yesterday's close to $7.02. 5) Invesco IVZ: Shares of invesco are currently trading up 6.7% from yesterday's close to $18.06. The strongest stocks trading in the S&P 500 Basic Materials Sector in today's action currently are: 1) CF Industries CF: Shares of CF are currently trading up 7.4% from yesterday's close to $148.54. 2) Alpha Natural Resources ANR: Shares of Alpha Natural are currently trading up 7.2% from yesterday's close to $28.23. 3) Allegheny Technologies ATI: Shares of Allegheny are currently trading up 5.6% from yesterday's close to $44.93. 4) International Flavors & Fragrances IFF: Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances are currently trading up 5.5% from yesterday's close to $55.72. 5) Alcoa AA: Shares of Alcoa are currently trading up 5.4% from yesterday's close to $11.94.