The NightCap
The Market: An initial gap higher was immediately sold but an afternoon surge helped the Dow, S&P and NASDAQ finish higher while greatly paring losses in the Russell 2000. Downside momentum seems to be waning and today’s mixed session is likely pointing to a bottom. In all likelihood that bottom will only be short-term but we will have to see how the action takes place. Ideally, for the start of a move higher, we would like to see a gap down (or strong move lower in early trading) tomorrow which takes us near or below today’s lows which is again…
Holiday Fed combo = low vol
The Market: A combination of the Rosh Hashanah (from sunset Sept 13th to nightfall Sept 15th) and traders waiting to see what the FOMC will say Thursday yielded a low volume choppy session which saw the markets finish slightly lower. There are not many earnings reports scheduled for this week but there are some noteworthy names including Oracle (ORCL), Adobe (ADBE), FedEx (FDX), and Rite Aid (RAD). No Economic data today but the remainder of the week is fairly packed with the aforementioned FOMC Rate decision and Statement scheduled for Thursday. Reported EPS After the Close this…
Market push and pull continues
The Market: With concerns over volatility in China, weak Economic data, and the FOMC statement, the market gapped down and continued lower throughout the early trading session before marking another big intraday reversal. After dipping below the 200 day SMA, the S&P managed to rally from over 25 points down to slightly up on the session in intraday trading but then couldn’t hold the gains and sold off into the close. Today’s action is actually a good micro representation of the push and pull in the market this year. As we noted last week, we expect volatility to continue and…
Oil gets crushes while market dips
The Market: A small down day which could have looked worse if not for a late day rally off the lows. Interesting to see the leaders to the downside were the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM). We were looking for the market to close just off the lows and then gap down tomorrow for a short-term long opportunity but today’s end of day rally has changed that set-up. Overall we remain cautious on the broad market and believe the choppy trading of late will continue. Energy (XLE) led to the downside, again, as crude oil continues to slide reaching…
Shortened week but already big moves
Index & Sector performance 3/30/15 The Market: Very strong rally across the board today with the Dow (DIA) leading the charge followed by the Russell 2000 (IWM) and then the S&P (SPY). In the very short-term these indices are overbought and likely due for a consolidation. The nature of the pullback will be telling if more upside is forthcoming or if we are heading back down toward the lows. Energy (XLE) led the Sectors today closing up over 2% followed by Financial (XLF), Materials (XLB), and Industrials (XLI) all finishing up over 1.5%. It was green across the board. Please…
XLU stands out in today’s action
Index & Sector performance 2/18/15 The Market: A choppy session overall which ended up finishing flat. Some negative divergence is building on the S&P 500 60 minute chart but, even when it leads to a pullback, the divergence can exist for many day. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the index continue to meander and drift higher for the remainder of the week into Options expiration. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) leading the way and by a wide margin finishing up 2.37%. We would be watching the XLU closely here to see if it can build on…
Oil trades below $50 & leads market lower
Index & Sector performance 1/5/15 The Market: The market was again led by Oil’s decline as we closed below $50 per barrel for the first time since 2009. In the Analyst Comments below you will see a downgrade for Caterpillar (CAT) by JP Morgan. In the note the analyst commented that up to 30% of CAT’s revenue could be under pressure due to lower oil prices. Similarly, Evercore downgraded Terex (TEX) to Hold with an $26 target and United Rentals (URI) to Sell with a $87 target citing concerns that oil’s sharp decline will hurt energy investments and thus construction…
Nasdaq & Russell lead indices lower
Index & Sector performance 4/25/14 The Market: All the major indices were down in Friday’s action with the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the way lower. In individual sectors the Transportation index (IYT) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY) were the biggest losers. The transports are an interesting case as they were one of the sectors making new highs recently but after an outside day yesterday the index followed through strongly to the downside today. Leading the index lower was JetBlue (JBLU) closing down 5.38%. After missing EPS yesterday, Reuters announced today that the Flight attendants will be looking…
S&P 500 remains above the 50 DSMA
Index & Sector performance 4/7/14 The Market: Friday’s selling action continues on Monday as the S&P 500 index lost roughly 20 points. Today’s lows in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) correlated nicely with previous levers of reaction and the 50 day SMA. If this short term support is lost we could see the cash index next targeting $1800 and even $1650-1700. In the meantime, aggressive traders could look to use today’s lows as a level to trade again on the long side for a bounce. Reporting EPS 4/8/14 Pre-Market: Only one name of note reporting EPS tomorrow…