April 23, 2024

The Calm before Jobs data storm?

Index & Sector performance 1/9/14 The Market: A mixed consolidation day in S&P 500 saw the futures up in the pre-market only to sell off at the open.  That sell off persisted until 11am EST losing roughly 15 S&P points from the pre-market highs and then the S&P bottomed and staged a rally which didn’t make it back to the pre-market highs but did take back more than half of what was lost. In Economic data today, Unemployment claims came in better than expected posting a 330K number when 337K was expected but the previous week was revised about 6K…

S&P 500 closes at new highs

Index & Sector performance 10/17/13 The Market: The government put the debt ceiling behind the nation….until the beginning of next year.  The temporary resolution should take the issue off the front pages, for now.  The markets started with a gap lower which was quickly bought up and a strong rally continued to build off the 10/09 lows with the S&P 500 posting all time closing highs. In economic news Unemployment Claims came in at 358K vs consensus expectations of 357K so inline and then the Philly Fed Manufacturing index saw a small drop but was better than expected.  CNBC reported…

Buy the rumor – Sell the news?

Index & Sector performance 10/16/13 The Market: Another strong day in the market sent the S&P 500 index over 23 points higher after a brief consolidation day yesterday.  What started as a small gap quickly ran in the first hour of trading eventually topping at 11:15 am EST.  The market then consolidated until 2:30 pm EST when it bottom and started a rally back toward the highs of the day.  Amidst a light economic data week, the news of Washington and the pending debt deal have continued to drive attention and trader reaction. Ahead of tomorrow’s Unemployment data (357K Consensus)…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -32.41 (-0.21%) to 15,451.85;S&P 500 -6.24 (-0.37%) to 1,676.26;NASDAQ -8.99 (0.25%) to 3,598.50 A relatively boring down day as the highs for the day were marked in the opening minuted and then the S&P 500 to lose ground until it bottomed around 1:30 with some small positive divergences on the 5 minute MACD and then rallied until 2:30 pm EST where it again lost ground but held above those earlier lows.  The market spent the last 30-40 minutes rallying but never regaining the 2:30 pm highs. In economic news we had CPI data with the core meeting expectations of up 0.2%…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +152.29 (+1.05%) to 14,719.46; S&P 500 +16.28 (+1.04%) to 1,578.78; NASDAQ +25.30 (+0.90%) to 2,835.37 Very strong day today in the market today with all major indices moving up roughly 1% or higher.  Today started with a gap higher and steadily climbed all day until 1pm EST when we saw a spike down.  We later realized the spike was caused by a false report by the AP, after their Twitter feed was hacked, that two bombs went off at the White House injuring the President.  Once the market realized the error they snapped back (whole process took a few minutes) but then still…

Week in Review

DJIA +10.37 (+0.07%) to 14,547.51; S&P 500 +13.64 (+0.88%) to 1,555.25; NASDAQ +38.51 (+1.40%) to 2,780.46 In Thursday night’s recap I noted that the bears were not yet in total control but the bulls needed to get the index moving or there could be a further imminent drop.  Friday was able to firm up and take back some control but you wouldn’t know it by watching the Dow which only pressed into positive territory within the last hour of trading.  The broader indices were much stronger. Weighing on the Dow were three big names which reported EPS that were not met with great…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -138.19 (-0.94%) to 14,618.59; S&P 500 -22.56 (-1.43%) to 1,552.01; NASDAQ -56.43 (-1.99%) to 2,781.98 Yesterday’s rally was short lived as the futures were slightly lower last night after the close and the losses picked up overnight and into the morning’s trading which then lasted the majority of the day not bottoming until just before 1pm EST.  Today was a light economic data day, although there was some fed speak, and sets up into tomorrow with the week’s Unemployment claims number.  I have estimates at 349K going into the number which is roughly where last week’s reading was (346K). The talk of…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +157.58 (+1.08%) to 14,756.78; S&P 500 +22.21 (+1.43%) to 1,574.57; NASDAQ +40.94 (+1.46%) to 2,838.41 Someone sounded an “all clear” notice today and the major indices all had nice gains including the S&P 500 which closed up over 1.4% for the day and at the day’s highs.  The bottom was actually made in the futures yesterday not long after the close.  Sometimes when you see bounces like this you will see an index like the Dow lead which I am always a skeptic of but today the S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq Composite all outpaced the Dow to the upside with the…

Week in Review

DJIA -25.03 (-0.17%) to 14,514.11; S&P 500 -2.53 (-0.16%) to 1,560.70; NASDAQ -9.86 (-0.30%) to 3,249.07 Finally a down day!  After 10 straight days higher the Dow and S&P 500 finally has a respite albeit small.  Some looking at the SPY today might have thought the markets were lower or noticed a disruption and that is due to the fact that the SPY pays a dividend which it went ex-dividend Friday for roughly $0.70. In economic data we had CPI which came in slightly hot with a 0.7% increase when 0.5% was expected.  When looking at the “core” PCI we met expectations of up…

Week in Review

DJIA +53.68 (+0.39%) to 13,649.70; S&P 500 +5.04 (+0.34%) to 1,485.98; NASDAQ -1.29 (-0.04%) to 3,134.71 Week economic data couldn’t put a damper on the S&P 500 which added onto Thursday’s decent gains.  The Nasdaq wasn’t able to join in on the party but had Apple Computers (AAPL), Intel (INTC) and Facebook (FB) as well as other weighing it down. We did have good economic data announced but not in the U.S., China reported GDP growth f 7.9% in Q4 which helped take the full year growth to 7.8% which outpaced consensus analyst expectations (7.7%) and the government’s expectations (7.5%)….