Strong Retail Sales & Airline M&A

Good morning. The bulls appear ready for takeoff this morning following stronger than expected retail sales data and M&A activity in the airline sector. There's even chatter this morning that OPEC may avoid new production cuts.

Significant premarket gainers are TIBX, UAUA, ATML, JBLU, MATK, BMTI, ALVR, LOGI, MAMA, FRNT, NITE, ENCY, SWHC, LMRA, DIVX, AKAM, AAPL, MRVL, EXAS, and PGLA. Premarket losers are ADCT, POZN, VRTX, NTRI, ACGY, PTEK, ONVI, OXPS, and COO.

Given the lack of upside momentum of late, the bulls certainly have this morning's headlines on their side. Let's see if they can take full advantage of it. Fresh highs in the major indexes would certainly be tempting for those sidelined or concerned about their year-end performance and how the market trades around the highs will provide us with a "tell" for the rest of the week. Trade well!