Tuesday's Market Recap - Moderate Gains, And New Highs Despite Greece, And Ukraine

What is The Premarket Telling Us?

On the first trading day following the holiday(Presidents Day) shortened week, US index futures are mixed to down, in the premarket, on worries about Greece debt negotiations. Talks have broken of between the anti-austerity government and their euro-partners.

Fifteen minutes before the opening bell, Dow futures are down 21 points, Nasdaq up 3 points, and S&P 500 is down 3 points.

WTI crude, and Brent, which was trading higher earlier, are now both trading down. A sitution that could be negative for the energy sector today.

What About The Asian And European Markets?

Asian markets closed mixed overnight; Shanghai was up 0.76%, Hong Kong was up 0.24%, but Japan down slightly, 0.10%.

Europe is also trading mixed early, Germany's Dax and France's CAC 40, were down 0.31% and 0.10%, respectively.

It's clear that global markets are responding to Greece worries, although, only, moderately. Investors may have come to the conclusion that, the risk of Greek default, and possible exit from the European union, has diminished compared to 5 years ago, when Greece debt was held, globally, by many nations banks, and other institution, which made contagion more likely.

Market Dynamics And Sector Performance

Makets opened mixed, to down, lead by slipping oil prices, and energy related stocks. Ten minutes, after the open, the Dow sank over 50 points, Nasdaq lost 11 points, and the S&P lost 6 points. At the low the Dow was down more th an 68 points. As the session progressed, markets stabilized, led by a turnaround in oil.

These sectors, dominated the markets today; Healthcare, Financials, Energy, Consumer staples. Healthcare was the clear outperformer, in todays session.

Markets trended higher in the afternoon session, an remained positive into the close.

Factors Influencing Today's Market

• Breakdown in Greek negotiations with it's Euro-partners.

• WTI and Brent crude ooil prices

• Concern that Ukraine ceasefire, which began on Sunday, may not hold.

• Better than expected earning from Waste Management and Goodyear Tire.

Market Close Volume Traded And Advance Decline Ratio

The indexes all closed higher, with the S&P 500 in record territory, the Nasdaq approaching its 5000 point high, of 15 years ago. Dow closed up 28 points, Nasdaq closed up 5.43 points, and the S&P closed 3.35 points. A modest 3.37 billions shares, traded today. Decliner outpaced Advancers by 1.3:1.