Volatility & Chop continues
The Market: Volatility continues to be the name of the game which is why you can have a 40+ point day like today and still have the S&P 500 within a range/wedge. While it is possible that we extend today’s rally by gaping higher tomorrow, it is not our expectation and if we do open higher tomorrow we would watch the downward sloping 20 day SMA as resistance. Overall, a light Economic Calendar this week Thursday and Friday having the most significant data points (Unemployment Claims, PPI, and Consumer Sentiment). Reported EPS 9/8/15 After the Close: …
Greece today, FOMC tomorrow
Index & Sector performance 6/15/15 The Market: An early gap down was attributed to their being no Greece bail-out deal over the weekend but the market found a bottom in early trading and drifted higher the remainder of the session. If the market can hold today’s low then it can start to build a base but below and it looks like it could target 2050 quickly. Healthcare (XLV) was the only sector on the WSC Scoreboard to finish higher for the session and is still holding its 50 day SMA. The biggest laggards were Industrials (XLI), Materials (XLB), and Technology…
Market finishes near lows
Index & Sector performance 5/26/15 The Market: A strong down day for the market which saw all the major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finish down over 1% on the session near the lows for the day. The futures are up in the after hours session but they will have to prove that this is not just a relief bounce. Utilities (XLU), Consumer Discretionary (XLY), and Consumer Staples (XLP) were the relative out-performers finishing down 0.63%, 0.75%, and 0.79% respectively. After reaching a high of $62.58 on 5/6/15, Crude Oil is back below $60/barrel after losing 3% in today’s…
Flat session with no catalysts
Index & Sector performance 3/23/15 The Market: A flat start to the week as the market appeared happy to meander without a strong catalyst to tip the balance one way or the other. In an otherwise boring tape, the Transportation Index (IYT) is worth noting as it closed down 1.83%. Most of the big names in the index were lower but Kansas City Southern (KSU) was the clear leader to the downside finishing 7.96% lower on the session after announcing reduced FY15 revenue guidance. Existing Home Sales came in weaker than expected and we will be watching to see if…
QQQ & IWM reach new highs
Index & Sector performance 2/26/15 The Market: More churn today in the markets but again the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) showed more strength than the S&P 500 (SPY) with the QQQ and IWM reaching new 52-week closing highs on the session. Crude oil lost over 5% today which helped send the Energy (XLE) sector 1.88% lower. We noted in our 2/18/15 nightly recap when the XLE was trading above $81 that we would look for a pullback toward $78 as a buying opportunity. Closing today at $79.35, we would ideally like to see lower levels before dipping into…
Holiday trading continued
Index & Sector performance 12/29/14 The Market: Today’s session was a continuation of the previous week’s holiday trading and will likely continue this way for the rest of the week with Thursday being closed for New Year’s Day. The Russell 2000 (IWM) led while the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Dow (DIA) finished slightly lower. The leading individual sectors were the Utilities (XLU) and Retail (XRT) finishing up 1.15% and 0.98% respectively. As might be expected with the QQQ finishing lower, Technology (XLK) lagged followed by Consumer Staples (XLP). There were no scheduled Economic Events today but there is some noteworthy data…
Watch out for traps
Index & Sector performance 12/9/14 The Market: The S&P 500 found itself down over 20 points within the first hour plus of trading as traders pointed to concerns over China and Greece. Throughout the early drop the Russell 2000 (IWM) remained strong down only a fraction of the other indices and then was the first to turn positive on the day. The IWM’s resilience continued throughout the remainder of the trading session and finished the clear leader. Today’s action certainly feels like another Bear trap where the market looks as though it is about to start a major prolonged slide…
China growth concerns weigh on market
Index & Sector performance 9/22/14 The Market: The markets started the week off lower with many pointing to weak economic data out of China as well as comments from the Chinese finance minister stating there will be no major policy adjustments as the cause. Leading the way lower was the Russell 2000 (IWM) which remains the clear underperfomer for the year with the Dow (DIA) not too far behind but at least positive YTD. Multiple sectors closed the day down over 1% with Retail (XRT) leading the way finishing the session 1.59% lower. The XRT is now again over 1%…