Ben to the rescue!
Index & Sector performance 9/18/13 The Market: The clock struck 2pm EST and it is time for Big Ben and the Fed to put all the recent speculation, at least for now, to rest. Neither changes to the current $85B bond purchased program nor the fed funds target rate. That news sparked a near 30 point rally which ultimately closed up 23 points from the announcement. Besides the Federal Reserve rate decision, in economic data we had building permits and housing starts which both came in lower than the previous month and also below expectations but with all due respect…
Week in Review
DJIA +11.75 (+0.08%) to 14,712.55; S&P 500 -2.92 (-0.18%) to 1,582.24; NASDAQ -8.11 (-0.28%) to 2,840.55 With the exception of the Dow, the markets were on the downside Friday but only slightly so on what was a relatively uneventful options expiration. All in all I would call today another consolidation day. The S&P 500 started relatively flat and then moved lower until noon EST where it set a bottom and rallied the remainder of the day including a quick peak into positive territory just before the close which was eventually sold leave the small loss on the day. In economic news we saw real GDP growth…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +152.29 (+1.05%) to 14,719.46; S&P 500 +16.28 (+1.04%) to 1,578.78; NASDAQ +25.30 (+0.90%) to 2,835.37 Very strong day today in the market today with all major indices moving up roughly 1% or higher. Today started with a gap higher and steadily climbed all day until 1pm EST when we saw a spike down. We later realized the spike was caused by a false report by the AP, after their Twitter feed was hacked, that two bombs went off at the White House injuring the President. Once the market realized the error they snapped back (whole process took a few minutes) but then still…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +19.66 (+0.14%) to 14,567.17; S&P 500 +7.25 (+0.47%) to 1,562.50; NASDAQ +29.61 (+1.06%) to 2,810.07 Monday’s action started with a gap higher which was promptly sold until just before 11am EST when the S&P 500 finally bottomed and then rallied the majority of the day. The high for the day was set just before 3pm EST and the remainder of the day was spent consolidating with a slightly lower bias. In economic data we saw a slightly downbeat housing (existing sales) number coming in at 4.92M vs a 5.02M estimate. Caterpillar (CAT) announced earnings that seemed to be overall disappointing with a…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -138.19 (-0.94%) to 14,618.59; S&P 500 -22.56 (-1.43%) to 1,552.01; NASDAQ -56.43 (-1.99%) to 2,781.98 Yesterday’s rally was short lived as the futures were slightly lower last night after the close and the losses picked up overnight and into the morning’s trading which then lasted the majority of the day not bottoming until just before 1pm EST. Today was a light economic data day, although there was some fed speak, and sets up into tomorrow with the week’s Unemployment claims number. I have estimates at 349K going into the number which is roughly where last week’s reading was (346K). The talk of…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -111.66 (-0.76%) to 14,550.35; S&P 500 -16.56 (-1.05%) to 1,553.69; NASDAQ -36.26 (-1.11%) to 3,218.60 Today in the pre-market we were essentially flat/slight higher and even after a poor ADP number the S&P 500 was able to open slightly higher but that was short lived and the rest of the day we saw market declines which at the lows approached down 20 points in the S&P 500 or over 1%. Along with the weak ADP and general concerns on slower global growth we also had two other event weighing on the markets. First the U.S. Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, stated that the…
Week in Review
DJIA +119.95 (+0.86%) to 13,981.76; S&P 500 +13.18 (+0.88%) to 1,519.79; NASDAQ +30.33 (+0.97%) I won’t spend too much time on Friday’s action but the futures seemed to have a positive tone even in early trading which I believe was build up off trading into support and holding around the 1500 level in the S&P 500. To further assist in the cause we had positive earnings reports out of two majors which I will list below. Otherwise today felt more as though we were snapping back some of the previous losses in more of a pure technical move. Two Dow names making news with…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -108.13 (-0.77%) to 13,927.54; S&P 500 -18.99 (-1.24%) to 1,511.95; NASDAQ -49.18 (-1.53%) to 3,164.41 Much of today’s down leg seemed to be attributed to the FOMC’s January 29-30 meeting minutes which indicated that several Fed members were starting to think about altering the current bond buying strategy. There are many that believe the Fed has help drive this rally so any change in policy especially one that could look as the beginning of a step back might not be overly welcomed. The markets have been in a relatively impressive climb of late so it also stands to reason that many stops may have…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -35.79 (-0.26%) to 13,982.91; S&P 500 +0.90 (+0.06%) to 1,520.33; NASDAQ +10.39 (+0.33%) to 3,196.88 The markets continued to climb what seems to be the wall of worry and I heard many speculating that something the President might say would affect the current trend but yet again another perceived milestone is passed and we continue higher yet again. The Nasdaq finally participated in the rally as Apple Computers (AAPL) while down for the day was only slightly so and didn’t pull down the broad index much but it was the Dow that didn’t participate and that was due to McDonald’s (MCD) which closed down over…
Week in Review
DJIA +149.21 (+1.08%) to 14,009.79; S&P 500 +15.06 (+1.01%) to 1,513.17; NASDAQ +36.97 (+1.18%) to 3,179.10 I have been looking and highlighting a pattern that seemed to be begging for higher prices in the short term and why the stance has been that while ultimately I would like to see a broader pullback/correction to provide the markets a better base to then press higher from again, in the short term it felt that every dip was an opportunity for a long trade. Friday’s action now for me has brought the S&P 500 into the levels I was looking for and…