Markets End The Day Mixed (SPY, QQQQ, GLD, USO, TLT, UUP)

After a four day rally which sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average around 4% higher, the stock market took a breather today. The Dow ended Tuesday's session 12 points higher at 10,537. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a tight range between 10,495 and 10,578. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY closed 0.01% lower at $111.55. The S&P 500 is holding right at its 200 day moving average at just below 1,114. If the S&P can close above 1,115 in the coming days, it would put the index in positive territory for 2010. Volume on SPY was lighter than normal. Around 205 million SPY shares traded hands versus a 3-month daily average of nearly 286 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq 100, closed 0.04% lower at $46.42. The QQQQ's largest component company, Apple AAPL, outperformed on the session, rising 1.85% to $264.08. Gold was hammered during Tuesday's trading session. COMEX gold futures fell $25, or around 2%, to $1,161.80. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD lost 1.74% to $113.51. The GLD has now fallen more than 7.5% in just the last month. Crude oil also fell rather precipitously on the day. NYMEX crude futures lost $1.48, or 1.87%, to $77.50. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO lost 1.92% to close at $34.67. Oil and stocks have been very highly correlated over the last year, so look for either a bounce in oil or a drop in stocks tomorrow. Treasuries continued to fall on Tuesday, suggesting investors are becoming increasingly willing to take more risk in their portfolios. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT declined 0.96% to $98.65. The yield on the 10-Year note jumped 5.6 basis points to 3.05%. The U.S. Dollar strengthened marginally on the trading session. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the dollar versus a basket of foreign currencies, gained 0.17% to $23.90. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.30.