March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: The market continues to grind higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) trying to play catch-up of late. Energy (XLE) led all sectors in today’s trading, again, and has been one of the hottest sectors of late although still down nearly -10% YTD. A relatively big data week with ISM Monday, Fed speak & ADP tomorrow, Unemployment Claims Thursday, and official Jobs data on Friday.  Traders concerned about the Fed and if we will see a December rate hike should be paying attention to this week’s data.       Reported EPS 11/3/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS…

The NightCap

The Market: Overall it was another tight trading range session but the Russell 2000 (IWM) continued its underperformance and finished down over –1%.  It appears that traders may be on hold until the FOMC statement and rate decision tomorrow. Transportation (IYT) sector was the hardest hit on the WSC Scoreboard as the sector ETF finished down -2.65% followed by yesterday’s biggest loser, Energy (XLE), which closed down -1.2%.  The biggest gaining sector on the session was HealthCare (XLV) which finished up 1.84% and was helped by Allergan (AGN), Biogen Inc (BIIB), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX), and Mylan NV (MYL) which all…

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…

Market shakes off Greece

Index & Sector performance 2/5/15 The Market: Sorry, no comments at this time but please check back later.     Reporting EPS 2/5/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS 2/6/15 Pre-Market: Analyst Comments:

FOMC rate decision highlights big data week

Index & Sector performance 9/15/14 The Market: The Dow (DIA) was the only index on the WSC Scoreboard to finish higher on the session while the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) took a hit losing 0.97% and 1.15% respectively.  Baring any unforeseen news, we would not be surprised to see the markets get quiet until the FOMC rate decision and Statement later in the trading day Wednesday. In individual sectors, Retail (XRT) was the biggest loser on the session finishing down nearly 1% and remains the laggard on the year.  On the upside, Energy (XLE) started off strong after…

Lots of data yields flat finish

Index & Sector performance 7/30/14 The Market: Lots of Economic Data/announcements in today’s session but when the dust settled it was surprisingly a flat session with the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) leading while the Dow (DIA) finished slightly lower and the S&P 500 (SPY) finished slightly higher. The leading sector on the WSC Scoreboard was Retail (XRT) finishing the day up 1% however Retail remains the only individual sector on the WSC Scoreboard that is down for the year.  The laggard was the Utilities (XLU) and decisively so finishing the day down 1.69%.  We remain interested in some…

Lots of movement, little results

Index & Sector performance 3/10/14 The Market: Today was a yet another choppy session but for day traders there was a great deal of opportunity.  The S&P 500 emini ultimately moved 40 points between support and resistance while the S&P 500 cash index only managed to close down roughly a point for the day.  Starting with Sunday evening’s trading the ES contract lost ground over night finding support at the $1868ES pivot and then rallied pre-market to the $1878ES pivot.  Playing Pivot Pinball the ES tested the $1868ES support after the open to yet again hold and rally back toward…

4 days down and counting…..

Index & Sector performance 9/24/13 The Market: The S&P 500 came into the day trying to snap a 3 day losing streak with even the smallest of gains but was unable to and after spending some time in positive territory, eventually lost ground and closed down for the 4th day in a row. In economic news the Case Shiller Index showed prices come in at the expected 12.4% increase year over year and slightly above expectations with a 1% month over month reading.  Richmond Manufacturing was well below expectations but generally not considered significant to the market and Consumer Confidence…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +130.63 (+0.89%) to 14,831.58; S&P 500 +14.89 (+0.94%) to 1,597.59; NASDAQ +37.79 (+1.32%) to 2,911.14 Today was another one of those small gap and run days where the market drifted higher the entire day.  There is not much else to say except it seems as though the market was happy to rally on today’s better than expected Unemployment Claims but the focus will quickly flip to the Non-Farm Employment Change numbers.  I have estimates at 155K and remember last report came in at 88K. In economic news today, Unemployment Claims came in at their lowest levels in over 5 years and well below analysts expectations. …

Daily Wrap

DJIA -129.71 (-0.93%) to 13,880.08; S&P 500 -17.46 (-1.15%) to 1,495.71; NASDAQ -47.93 (-1.51%) to 3,131.17 Today proved to be a very timely pullback as we noted last last week and then this weekend after Friday’s action that we believed a form of a top was in that would provide a longer pullback/consolidation than we have been seeing of late.  Today essentially wiped out all of last week gains and it is not surprising after such a strong move down to see the markets up slightly after the close.  We will have to see if they can hold or build…