March 19, 2024

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…

Pop off support as FOMC looms

The Market: A nice snap back rally today as the S&P 500 continues to hold the 200 day SMA.  We would not be surprised to see limited action overnight and in early trading tomorrow as traders wait to see what the Fed says at 2pm ET. Yesterday’s laggard, Energy (XLE), is today’s leader finishing up 2.86% followed closely by Transportation (IYT) which finished up 2.75%.  Also posting strong sessions was Materials (XLB), Industrials (XLI), and HeathCare (XLV) finishing up 2.09%, 1.94% and 1.81% respectively. FOMC statement tomorrow and remember we are still in the thick of earnings reports which will…

S&P 500 holds 200 day SMA

The Market: Sorry no comments tonight — traveling the remainder of this week.      Reporting EPS After the Close this week:   Reporting EPS Pre-Market this week:   Analyst Comments:

S&P snaps 2 day losing streak

Index & Sector performance 2/10/15 The Market: The S&P 500 snapped a 2 day losing streak with a solid rally closing up over 1% on the session while the NASDAQ led the charge finishing up over 1.50% helped by Apple (AAPL) which closed at a fresh all time highs.  The Russell 2000 (IWM) was the laggard but still managed to finish up 0.67%. All the sectors on the WSC Scoreboard were higher with the exception of Energy (XLE) which was taking its cue from Crude’s slide today after running into the 50 day SMA.  Utilities (XLU) was the biggest gainer…

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)…

QQQs lose 2% – now sit on 50 day SMA

Index & Sector performance 9/25/14 The Market: Strong down session across the board which saw the NASDAQ (QQQ) lead the way lower finishing down over 2%.  QQQ was hurt by Apple (AAPL) which is reportedly facing consumer issue regarding its new iPhone6 and iOS but some media outlets also pointed to concerns over rates and Russia as causes for trader pessimism. The Dow (DIA) and QQQ are now sitting on their 50 day SMA’s while the S&P 500 (SPY) lost its 50 as of today.  With one day left in the trading week it will be interesting to see how…

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…

GDP disappoints but market ignores

Index & Sector performance 4/30/14 The Market: As you can see in the table below, the U.S. Q1 GDP number came in well below expectations.  While Q1 was not expected to be a high growth quarter, clearly analysts did not expect a near negative number.  Certainly the colder than expected weather could have and likely did play a role but on our opinion you cannot completely blame a miss like this on the weather. So why might traders and investors be willing to look past this data besides the weather?  Possibly because a number like this allows the Fed to…

Week in Review

DJIA -40.86 (-0.28%) to 14,565.25; S&P 500 -6.70 (-0.43%) to 1,553.28; NASDAQ -21.12 (-0.65%) to 3,203.86 The March unemployment data came in well below expectations (88K vs 198K expectations) which send the market gaping lower and down over 1% in early trading.  This took the S&P 500 toward the 50 day SMA and into a range of support which is used to rally off the lows ultimately only closing down slightly for the day. Big loser on the day was F5 Networks (FFIV) which lose over 19% after announcing Q2 earnings that were below analyst expectations.  The company blamed the lower results on decreasing telecom and…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +89.16 (+0.61%) to 14,662.01; S&P 500 +8.08 (+0.52%) to 1,570.25; NASDAQ +15.69 (+0.48%) to 3,254.86 Yesterday seemed almost too easy with the markets starting higher and then selling off on what I noted was light volume but decisively negative.  The new quarter had started and brought along with it a sell off.  There was that pesky end of day rally though.  That one that happened toward the very end of the day and left open the idea that the market could build off that push and that is what then happened today.  The markets gaped higher and never dipped back into negative territory. …