Sunny Climate

A forecast for continued pleasant conditions across the Northeast combined with a shrug of the shoulders towards the Mideast has energy prices down sharply. And completely contrary to my theory that stocks would sink under their own weight, the indices floated higher on helium today, keeping that long, narrow uptrend intact.

The options gauges, already at low levels, dipped only marginally. The VIX slid down 1% to 11.20, and the put/call fell slightly lower to 0.59 from its 0.64 10-day moving average.

On a low-volume day, standard-bearers such as Apple (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take), down 1%; Intel (INTC - commentary - Cramer's Take), up 0.5%; and Research In Motion (RIMM - commentary - Cramer's Take), moving on some residual earnings action, sat atop the most-active list.

Shares of oil and energy companies were lower in the morning, but even as the commodity reversed lower, the group recovered in the afternoon. Volume and implied volatility rose across the sector, for both ETFs such as the Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH - commentary - Cramer's Take) and individual stocks such as Chesapeake (CHK - commentary - Cramer's Take). Halliburton (HAL - commentary - Cramer's Take) saw its IV increase about 10% on the day.

In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, Steven Smith doesn't own or short individual stocks. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships.

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Steven Smith writes regularly for TheStreet.com. He was a seatholding member of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) from May 1989 to August 1995. During that six-year period, he traded multiple markets for his own personal account and acted as an executing broker for third-party accounts. He appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

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