March 19, 2024

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…

The NightCap

The Market: We expected to see a tight trading range until the FOMC statement but instead we saw buyers in advance of the statement as the S&P 500 (SPY) pressed higher.  The the announcement came and there was a sharp sell-off but buyers came right back and all 4 major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished above the pre-FOMC announcement highs. As was expected by many, the FOMC left the Fed Fund Rates unchanged but, based on the comments, it appears a rate hike is on the table for December if the data warrants.  We also saw the committee…

Farewell QE3

Index & Sector performance 10/29/14 The Market: It was a relatively quiet session the majority of the day as traders were awaiting the 2pm FOMC rate decisions and statement.  As was expected, the Fed ended QE3 but continued to note that rates would remain low for a “considerable period”.  The initial reaction after the release was a move lower but the market had already been trending that way since the open and, after the initial drop, buyers stepped in and ultimately the indices closed only slightly lower. It was a mixed session across the WSC Scoreboard sectors with Materials (XLB)…

Volatility the new norm

Index & Sector performance 10/16/14 The Market: A session like today may look uneventful when scanning the WSC Scoreboard and looking at the end of day changes but it masks the large intraday swings.  An example is the S&P 500 (SPY) had a roughly 50 point range from high to low today (5 points in the SPY) which represents nearly 3% based on today’s opening price.  Traders and investors need to be prepared for an environment with increased volatility which could last for an extended period. The Russell 2000 (IWM) remains the clear leader of late finishing up over 1%. …

Intraday swing leave only small gains

Index & Sector performance 4/28/14 The Market: After moving slightly higher in the overnight and early trading, the S&P 500 quickly dropped in the midday session before finding a bottom around 1:30 pm ET.  While the S&P fell a few points short of making it back to the earlier intraday highs, it did manage to post a small gain on the day.   The Dow led the major indices helped by a 4.2% gain from Pfizer (PFE) while the Russell 2000 closed slightly down on the day. Many big name stocks in the news including the aforementioned Pfizer (PFE) who…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +19.66 (+0.14%) to 14,567.17; S&P 500 +7.25 (+0.47%) to 1,562.50; NASDAQ +29.61 (+1.06%) to 2,810.07 Monday’s action started with a gap higher which was promptly sold until just before 11am EST when the S&P 500 finally bottomed and then rallied the majority of the day.  The high for the day was set just before 3pm EST and the remainder of the day was spent consolidating with a slightly lower bias.  In economic data we saw a slightly downbeat housing (existing sales) number coming in at 4.92M vs a 5.02M estimate. Caterpillar (CAT) announced earnings that seemed to be overall disappointing with a…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +62.51 (+0.46%) to 13,712.21; S&P 500 +6.58 (+0.44%) to 1,492.56; NASDAQ +8.47 (+0.27%) to 3,143.18 Today was an interesting day.  4 Dow names reported before the bell but due t their mixed nature it didn’t seem to help provide any conviction either way so the market erred on the being down side.  After wavering for the early part of the day the S&P finally pressed into positive territory around lunch and then started a trek higher closing up over 6 points for the day.  In economic news, US existing home sales came in below estimates for December and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing survey looked to…