April 24, 2024

Stong gains for shortened Op-Ex week

Index & Sector performance 4/16/14 The Market: From our recap Monday we noted that while the market still appeared vulnerable to the downside, we would also not be surprised to see oversold short term levels and the shortened holiday trading week provide a bounce.  We did not at that time realize that we would get both the downside and the rally all in one day but that is in fact what happened on Tuesday and today was a follow-through on that action. Tomorrow is the last day of trading for the week since the market is closed Friday in observance…

Decline….What Decline?

Index & Sector performance 1/15/14 The Market: The vast majority of today’s action was on the open where the S&P 500 gaped higher and ran until 11am EST which marked the highs of the day.  The remainder of the day stayed in a 5 point range from the 11am highs as the market digested the strong reversal rally which has gained roughly 35 S&P points since Monday’s lows. In Economic Data, Headline PPI slightly missed expectations while Core PPI beat.  The Beige Book reiterated an overall positive outlook on the economy showing moderate growth.  Tomorrow traders will be most focused…

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 +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…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -265.86 (-1.79%) to 14,599.20; S&P 500 -36.49 (-2.30%) to 1,552.36; NASDAQ -59.01 (-2.07%) to 2,797.47 Today was a very active day in the markets but it is appropriate to take the time to stop and send well wishes and prayers to those involved in the Boston Marathon incident which as I write is still unfolding with not many details but clearly today people were hurt and my prayers go to them and their family. The market began with a small gap lower on weak Chinese data and overall global outlook concerns which continued to snowball into larger losses which were not just…

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%)….

Daily Wrap

DJIA +84.79 (+0.63%) to 13,596.02; S&P 500 +8.31 (+0.56%) to 1,480.94; NASDAQ +18.46 (+0.59%) to 3,136.00 Today started with a gap higher and then continued leaving a chart which moved from the lower left to upper right.  The market really started its move after we got a much better than expected Weekly jobless claims number which came in at 335K vs the expected 369K.  The markets did make their high just after 2pm and moved lower into the close and after the close but not destructively so.  The news causing the decline may have been from Dallas Fed hawk Fisher…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -23.66 (-0.17%) to 13,511.23; S&P 500 +0.29 (+0.02%) to 1,472.63; NASDAQ +6.76 (+0.22%) to 3,117.54 Again we have another day where the markets were somewhat mixed but overall were overall boring.  Opening roughly 4 points lower the S&P rallied to close slightly positive.  Today we had the Fed Beige Book but obviously there was nothing ground breaking to the markets and now focus will switch to tomorrow’s jobs data.  Last week saw a slight uptick in claims to 371K and this week’s expectation is roughly the same at 369K. Boeing (BA) closed down over 3% today and the news does not look promising.  Following a…