Dollar giveth and taketh away
Index & Sector performance 3/19/15 The Market: It was noted in last night’s write-up that where the S&P 500 (SPY) decided to stop yesterday gave us pause and left the door open for a pullback. We still see risk in the S&P in the short-term but a move back over yesterday’s high would force us to revisit that view. Oil reversed much of yesterday’s gains but has managed to remain above yesterday’s lows. We noted in last night’s commentary that the risk/reward in the USO looked favorable with a stop below $15.61 and we would continue to use that as…
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…
Yellen to the rescue
Index & Sector performance 12/17/14 The Market: Fueled by continued caution from the Fed in raising rates and a rebound in Oil prices, the broad indices roared higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing up over 3%. We noted in Monday’s comments that a gap lower Tuesday could be a great trading opportunity. For anyone that did not just day trade Tuesday’s gap down and are still holding, we would be using relatively tight stops to manage the position as there is still some concern lower levels could be seen before this decline is over. …
Utilities shine amidst sea of red
Index & Sector performance 10/1/14 The Market: All four of the main indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished well into negative territory with the NASDAQ (QQQ) leading the charge down 1.60%. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) that stood out closing 0.57% higher while the rest of the list was well into negative territory. It was a broad rally across the XLU with many stocks participating but some noteworthy gainers were Exelon (EXC) up 1.41%, Southern (SO) up 1.01%, and NRG Energy (NRG) up 2.33%. EXC has been a favorite of ours but we would also watch SO…
The Taper begins…
Index & Sector performance 12/18/13 The Market: A strong day in the market with the gains all coming after the 2 pm EST FOMC report. The S&P 500 was in a holding pattern until just before the report when it started to drop lower. After the report there was a quick spike lower (likely on the headline of bond buying decreasing) and the S&P 500 tagged the 50 day SMA where the index then bottomed and ripped higher. From Peak to Trough the S&P 500 gained rouhgly43 points! In economic news today we saw Housing Starts handily beat expectations (1.09M…
Waiting on Washington
Index & Sector performance 9/30/13 The Market: The lack of a deal from Washington on the impending government shutdown seemed to eight on trader’s mind. While the S&P was able to rally after a gap down in early trading, the rally was short lived and around 1:30 pm EST the market again lost ground although was able to remain above the early morning lows In economic data we had Chicago PMI which came in slight better than expected with a 55.7 reading when 54.5 was expected. Tomorrow we have Final Manufacturing PMI, ISM, Construction spending and Total Vehicle Sales. In…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +3.76 (+0.03%) to 14,455.82; S&P 500 -3.76 (-0.24%) to 1,548.34; NASDAQ -8.49 (-0.26%) to 3,229.10 The continued trepidation and negativity stemming from the Cyprus debacle was in focus today as the markets tried to start with a strong open only to lay way to a strong decline which finally found buyers after just dipping below the R1 support in the futures which provided initial support and then went down to back test. After a slight dip below the R1 level, the market had positive divergence on the 5 minute futures chart and that ultimately did prove to be the lows as the market…
Daily Wrap
DJIA+115.57 (+0.87%) to 13,350.96; S&P 500+16.43 (+1.15%) to 1,446.79; NASDAQ+43.93 (+1.46%) to 3,054.53; Today started with a small move into the 1434 resistance we had noted was above last night but after some quick morning consolidation below, we were off to the races following yesterday’s big gains with another nice day higher today. Leading the way yesterday was the Financials and while they are not the broad leader again today they followed up nicely on the back of positive comments from Meredith Whitney after yesterday’s close and making the financial talk circuit today. Specifically she upgraded Bank of America (BAC),…
Analyst Comments
Analyst comments for Monday (11/19/12) See the Upgrades/Downgrades section for complete & cleaner list Upgrades Company Symbol Brokerage Firm Upgraded to: Price Target ($) CSC CSC Deutsche Bank Buy 46 Randgold Resources GOLD RBC Capital Outperform N/A Enerplus Resources ERF RBC Capital Outperform 18 Agnico-Eagle AEM RBC Capital Outperform 69 PetSmart PETM Barclays Overweight 75 Dean Foods DF Goldman Sachs Buy 22 Agilent A Goldman Sachs Buy 59 Bruker BRKR Goldman Sachs Buy 19 Barclays BCS Goldman Sachs Buy N/A Flowers Foods FLO KeyBanc Buy 25 Actuant ATU KeyBanc Buy N/A Provident PFS Sterne Agee Buy 15…