April 23, 2024

Financials lead strong session

Index & Sector performance 9/18/14 The Market: Fairly broad rally across all the WSC Scoreboard indices.  Interesting that the Guggenheim equal weight S&P 500 index (RSP) noticeably underperformed the S&P 500 (SPY) showing that the rally was not as much broad based and instead focused in the higher weighted industries & stocks. In individual sectors it was the Financials (XLF) that led all sectors on the WSC Scoreboard finishing the session up 0.98%.  As would be expected the rally was broad throughout the components but highlighted by Citigroup (C) and Prudential (PRU) which finished the session up 2.42% and 2.35%…

Financials help S&P to new highs

Index & Sector performance 8/21/14 The Market: The 4 major indices drifted higher in today’s session but not by much and all on lower volume which has been a trend. Mixed bag across the individual sectors but the clear winner was the Financials (XLF) finishing the day up 1.18%.  The big standout in the sector was Bank of America (BAC) which finished the day up over 4% and looks poised for a run back to the March 2014 highs of $18.  If BAC is indeed in rally mode we would expect today’s lows to not be breached.  Also having a…

Financial earnings remain focus for week

Index & Sector performance 7/14/14 The Market: All four major indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished equally higher in today’s action.  We continue to be most interested in the Russell 2000 (IWM) and the fact that the Small Caps are not enjoying as solid of a year as the other major indices.  We ultimately believe for further gains the small caps need to be involved. In individual sectors the WSC Scoreboard was led by Energy (XLE) which finished up 0.87%.  Also finishing higher on the WSC Scoreboard was the Financials (XLF) which saw Citigroup (C) beat earnings this morning and…

Very quiet start to the week

Index & Sector performance 7/7/14 The Market: Today was a very quiet trading session which saw the market give back some of last week’s holiday gains.  Looking over the Economic Calendar, this is a light data week and while Alcoa (AA) will kick off earnings season tomorrow after the close it will still be a while before we are in the thick of earnings season. We are watching the Russell 2000 (IWM) closely.  In good times you expect to see the Tech Stocks and Small caps lead.  While the NASDAQ (QQQ) has come back to do its part this year,…

Indices take back losses plus

Index & Sector performance 5/22/14 The Market: Overall today was a quiet day in the market which saw green across the entire WSC Scoreboard with the Dow and NASDAQ leading the charge followed closely by the S&P and finally the Russell 2000 which is getting use to lagging.  At 2pm EDT the FOMC minutes were released and discussed risks to the economy including U.S. housing, the Russia-Ukraine situation, and China’s economic slow down but this news did not appear to bother traders. Tomorrow is be the biggest economic data day of the week which includes Unemployment Claims and Existing Home…

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….

S&P 500 remains above the 50 DSMA

Index & Sector performance 4/7/14   The Market: Friday’s selling action continues on Monday as the S&P 500 index lost roughly 20 points.  Today’s lows in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) correlated nicely with previous levers of reaction and the 50 day SMA.  If this short term support is lost we could see the cash index next targeting $1800 and even $1650-1700.  In the meantime, aggressive traders could look to use today’s lows as a level to trade again on the long side for a bounce.   Reporting EPS 4/8/14 Pre-Market: Only one name of note reporting EPS tomorrow…

Increased chatter of a 10+% decline

Index & Sector performance 4/3/14 The Market: A pre-market pop in the S&P 500 emini sent the index as high at 1887.50ES but that move was short lived and the index was trading lower by the open and continued lower throughout the early and midday trading sessions.  It wasn’t until the afternoon trading when the S&P bottomed and marched higher into the close.  The emini has continued higher in after hours trading closing in on the pre-market highs essentially negating the entire move lower in today’s session. It is worth noting that the ECB left rates unchanged and noted they…

Market digests yesterday’s move

Index & Sector performance 3/27/14 The Market: In Economic news, Unemployment Claims came in at 311K which is better than the 326K estimate.  GDP came in a hair light at 2.6% vs 2.7% est. and Pending Home Sales missed big posting a -0.8% vs a 0.1% est. while the previous number was revised lower.  Tomorrow’s data is not as critical as today’s but we do have multiple events including Consumer Confidence. In early trading the emini reached 1835ES and twice found support there before managing to rally roughly 9 points off the lows to the close.  All in all it…

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…