S&P 500 TESTS TOP OF RECENT RANGE -- RUSSELL 2000 AND DOW TRANSPORTS CLEAR 200-DAY LINES -- VALUE STOCKS GAIN GROUND -- HEALTHCARE HITS NEW RECORD -- MATERIAL STOCKS MAY BE NEXT

S&P 500 TESTS JUNE HIGH... Stocks gained more ground today with ten of eleven sectors in the black.   Chart 1 shows the S&P 500 ending the day just below its early June intra-day high at 3233.   Also encouraging was better participation by value stocks which have been doing better this week.   That includes industrials, energy, financials, and materials which led the market higher today.   Also encouraging was stronger action in small caps and transportation stocks.   Chart 2 shows the Russell 2000 iShares (IWM) closing above its 200-day average for the first time since early June.   Small caps outperformed large caps by a three to one margin today.   Chart 3 shows the Dow Transports closing above its 200-day line as well for the first time in more than a month.   Airlines stocks were the biggest transportation gainers.   Travel-related stocks recovered today on encouraging news about a potential vaccine to treat the Covid-19 virus.   Technology stocks lagged behind the rest of the market for the third day a row.

BUYING VALUE... Some of the money rotating out of tech, however, is moving into more value-oriented parts of the market.  Chart 4 shows the S&P 500 Value iShares (IVE) moving up toward its 200-day average.   Its four biggest sectors are healthcare (20%), financials (18%), staples (10%), and industrials (9%).   It got help from three of them today.   Especially healthcare which hit a new record.   Material stocks may be next.

MATERIALS SPDR NEARS OLD HIGH... Chart  5 shows the Material SPDR (XLB) closing at the highest level in five months.  And not far from its record high established during the first quarter.  The XLB has been led higher recently by mining stocks tied to copper and gold.   Chemical stocks led it higher today.