The Calm before Jobs data storm?
Index & Sector performance 1/9/14 The Market: A mixed consolidation day in S&P 500 saw the futures up in the pre-market only to sell off at the open. That sell off persisted until 11am EST losing roughly 15 S&P points from the pre-market highs and then the S&P bottomed and staged a rally which didn’t make it back to the pre-market highs but did take back more than half of what was lost. In Economic data today, Unemployment claims came in better than expected posting a 330K number when 337K was expected but the previous week was revised about 6K…
S&P Futures play MA pinball
Index & Sector performance 12/16/13 The Market: The made strong gains today after what looked like a horrible start to the week. In overnight trading Sunday the S&P 500 dropped t0 $1754 (March 2014 emini contract) tagging the 50 day SMA and then built a rally off that support. Surprisingly by the morning the futures had not only regained everything that was lost from Sunday evening’s open but also but in some gains. Those who do not look at the futures may have never even known of the rough start. The futures then rallied pre-market to the 20 day SMA…
Beige Book helps market off lows
Index & Sector performance 12/4/13 The Market: The S&P 500 started with a gap down which was quickly bought and rallied to slightly positive on the day but that rally topped at 11am EST and made its way back down to and through the earlier lows. The market found a bottom prior to the Beige Book coming out but the release did not hurt the rally and the S&P 500 finished near flat on the day and above the 20 day SMA. In economic news we saw ADP Non-Farm Employment Change come in much better than expected posting a 215K…
Buy the rumor – Sell the news?
Index & Sector performance 10/16/13 The Market: Another strong day in the market sent the S&P 500 index over 23 points higher after a brief consolidation day yesterday. What started as a small gap quickly ran in the first hour of trading eventually topping at 11:15 am EST. The market then consolidated until 2:30 pm EST when it bottom and started a rally back toward the highs of the day. Amidst a light economic data week, the news of Washington and the pending debt deal have continued to drive attention and trader reaction. Ahead of tomorrow’s Unemployment data (357K Consensus)…
US Government shuts down and gains open up
Index & Sector performance 10/01/13 The Market: The old market adage Buy the rumor and Sell the news is somewhat in affect here today with the markets reaction to the Government shutdown. As we noted in last night’s Game Plan, with the realization of the shutdown now in affect and the worry of the shutdown gone, short term longs would look for opportunity to trade a bounce. A gap up was quickly consolidated after roughly 30 minutes of trading and then pressed higher until 12:30 pm EST. After 12:30 there was a roll over which took the index down until…
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 -25.03 (-0.17%) to 14,514.11; S&P 500 -2.53 (-0.16%) to 1,560.70; NASDAQ -9.86 (-0.30%) to 3,249.07 Finally a down day! After 10 straight days higher the Dow and S&P 500 finally has a respite albeit small. Some looking at the SPY today might have thought the markets were lower or noticed a disruption and that is due to the fact that the SPY pays a dividend which it went ex-dividend Friday for roughly $0.70. In economic data we had CPI which came in slightly hot with a 0.7% increase when 0.5% was expected. When looking at the “core” PCI we met expectations of up…
Daily Wrap
(Update officially published to site 3/12/13) DJIA +50.22 (+0.35%) to 14,447.29; S&P 500 +5.04 (+0.32%) to 1,556.22; NASDAQ +8.50 (+0.26%) to 3,252.87 Today the market continued along its climb even amidst some negative economic data abroad. We had no major US economic news or data on the table so anything could have driven the move but with a lack of true catalyst it seemed the market was happy to continue along it’s recent path of higher. We still have the negative divergence on the MACD but as I have noted before, negative divergence is not a signal itself and only…
Week in Review
DJIA +67.58 (+0.47%) to 14,397.07; S&P 500 +6.92 (+0.45%) to 1,551.18; NASDAQ +12.28 (+0.38%) to 3,244.37 This week was all about Jobs data and the build up to a number that didn’t disappointing posting a 236K non-farm employment change when consensus expectations were around 158K. This also took the Unemployment rate down to 7.7% from 7.9%. Cue to the cynicism regarding the number and the way it is calculated and it is not that I disagree but the fact also is that the method of calculation is not changed month to month so there is a frame of reference where better is better…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +125.95 (+0.89%) to 14,253.77; S&P 500 +14.59 (+0.96%) to 1,539.79; NASDAQ +42.10 (+1.32%) to 3,224.13 Up up and away the market went today with the Dow closing at record highs. Starting the week I had the expectation that this week would be a consolidation week but then as Monday started, something bothered me. The 4 hour emini S&P 500 chart. It didn’t just look bullish it look destined to head higher. I posted it over at StockTwits (WSConsensus) and again in my nightly recap. The way the markets closed and also started the next day seemed to be confirming the pattern and…