March 19, 2024

Oil gets crushes while market dips

The Market: A small down day which could have looked worse if not for a late day rally off the lows.  Interesting to see the leaders to the downside were the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM).  We were looking for the market to close just off the lows and then gap down tomorrow for a short-term long opportunity but today’s end of day rally has changed that set-up. Overall we remain cautious on the broad market and believe the choppy trading of late will continue. Energy (XLE) led to the downside, again, as crude oil continues to slide reaching…

Stocks recover after early slide

Index & Sector performance 3/26/15 The Market: Today’s session started of much worse than it ended with the futures losing ground in the overnight and early session causing a gap down which continued lower in early trading but manged to recover and stage a midday rally which even saw all 4 broad indices spend time up on the day.  In global news, traders were focused on Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen which helped Crude Oil traded over $51 u more than 3% on the session. We would not be signaling that the coast is clear yet and see risk in…

XLU stands out in today’s action

Index & Sector performance 2/18/15 The Market: A choppy session overall which ended up finishing flat.  Some negative divergence is building on the S&P 500 60 minute chart but, even when it leads to a pullback, the divergence can exist for many day.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see the index continue to meander and drift higher for the remainder of the week into Options expiration. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) leading the way and by a wide margin finishing up 2.37%.  We would be watching the XLU closely here to see if it can build on…

Quiet start to the month

Index & Sector performance 11/3/14 The Market: The market started the day slightly higher building on last week’s extremely strong session but the market ran out of steam in the short term and the S&P 500 started pulling back in afternoon trading finishing flat on the session.  All in all it was a low volume quiet session but the Bulls can point to the fact that they didn’t give ground after reaching new highs. We do not expect the remainder of the month to be as quiet as today and would plan for swings in both directions much like October…

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…

Markets stop slide, fight back

Index & Sector performance 8/4/14 The Market: After two strong down days, all 4 indices on the WSC Scoreboard managed to find bottoms and rally with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing the day 0.89% higher.  One note of caution, volume was on the light side when compared to the previous two sessions.  Our suggestion would be to watch the first major pullback after today’s move.  If it is orderly then the market likely has unfinished business to the upside, otherwise we will likely see another push lower. In individual sectors it was green across the board except…

Early dip finds buyers

Index & Sector performance 6/26/14 The Market: Just before the open the major indices started spiking lower and continued through the bells until roughly 10 am ET before finding a bottom.  Then as if nothing happened the market spend the rest of the day climbing back toward even on the day with the S&P 500 (SPY) finishing slightly higher while the other major indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished slightly lower. Just like the broad indices, the individual sectors from the WSC Scoreboard were mixed but all hovering near flat on the day.  The Financials (XLF) and Consumer Staples (XLP)…

S&P 500 pullback coming soon?

Index & Sector performance 6/6/14 The Market: Yet again the Russell 2000 led in today’s trading as all 4 broad indices from the WSC Scoreboard closed higher.  Also after spending much of 2014 in the red, the Russell 2000 (IWM) is now ever so slightly higher on the year. Healthcare (XLV) and Utilities (XLU) were the lone laggards in the individual sectors while Energy (XLE), Industrials (XLI), and Transportation (IYT) were the notable leaders.  Taking a peak further at the Industrials, which were the overall leader, we see Fluor (FLR) posted a 2.77% gain today following up on a strong…

Citi & Retail Sales aid rally

Index & Sector performance 4/14/14   The Market: The S&P 500 started lower in Sunday’s overnight session but quickly found a bottom and moved off the lows into early trading.  Met with better than expected retail sales and an earnings beat by Citigroup (C), the rally continued until just after noon ET before topping out and starting a slide back toward the overnight lows.  It appeared the market was yet again faced with a late day sell off but with one hour left in trading the S&P 500 found a bottom and snapped back toward the highs of the session….

Market dips early but fights back

Index & Sector performance 1/21/14 The Market: This is the type of market that frustrates both the Bull & the Bears.  Strong moves in each direction serve to whip weak traders our of their positions.  After a very light futures trading session Monday with the Stock Market closed, the S&P 500 futures pressed higher in late Monday/early Tuesday trading.  Just before the open the futures printed $1844 and then started to sell off right at the open.  The market finally found a bottom near noon EST but only after losing roughly 18 points from the pre-market highs.  The S&P 500…