March 29, 2024

Yellen to the rescue

Index & Sector performance 12/17/14 The Market: Fueled by continued caution from the Fed in raising rates and a rebound in Oil prices, the broad indices roared higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing up over 3%. We noted in Monday’s comments that a gap lower Tuesday could be a great trading opportunity.  For anyone that did not just day trade Tuesday’s gap down and are still holding, we would be using relatively tight stops to manage the position as there is still some concern lower levels could be seen before this decline is over.    …

Merger Monday doesn’t help market

Index & Sector performance 11/17/14 The Market: Despite a very active M&A session, it was yet another very tight trading range in the S&P 500 while the NASDAQ (QQQ) lagged and the Russell 2000 (IWM) led to the downside. In deals we saw Allergan (AGN) agree to be acquired by Actavis (ACT) for a combination of cash and ACT stock which totaled $219 per share.  Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) who had also been trying to buy AGN stepped aside not feeling comfortable they could justify the valuation to shareholders.  Two more big names in M&A news as Halliburton (HAL) announced it…

Global economic growth concerns weigh on market

Index & Sector performance 11/4/14 The Market: Today’s session ultimately finished narrowly lower with the Dow (DIA) managing to close ever so slightly higher.  Midday the damage was worse as traders pointed to the European Commissions cutting growth and inflation forecasts but after the European exchanges closed the U.S. found a bottom and drifted higher into the close. In individual sectors it was again Energy (XLE) which led the way lower finishing down 2.06% as crude oil traded as low as $75.84/ barrel after Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting prices on oil exports to the U.S.  Traders are cautious…

Energy green in a sea of red

Index & Sector performance 6/11/14 The Market: As we noted late last week and reiterated in Monday’s report, the S&P 500 closed outside of its Weekly (20, 2, -2) Bollinger Bands which has previously lead to counter trend moves for a few weeks to months.  While we respect the strong uptrend in the market, we also believe this is time to exercise caution on the long side, at least for the broad market. One additional note.  While many market pundits in the media have been looking for pull back and becoming cautious recently, they also seem very willing to step…

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…

Low volume rally led by Russell 2K

Index & Sector performance 5/20/14 The Market: An overall light volume day was led to the upside by the Russell 2000 followed by the NASDAQ 100.  In individual sectors, Utilities (XLU) led to the downside followed by the Consumer Staples (XLP) while the transportation index was the largest gainer with components Matson (MATX) and JetBlue (JBLU) up the most gaining 3.05% and 2.42% respectively.  MATX and JBLU both appear to be viable long trade candidates going forward. This is an extremely quiet Economic data week with a lot of Fed speak.  Earnings will play a role for individual stocks so…

Tech stocks lead sell-off

Index & Sector performance 5/6/14 The Market: Last night we noted 1872ES as a key level to watch.  If it held as overnight support then the index could look to target Friday’s 1886ES highs but if lost then we could see Monday’s lows of 1860.50ES tested and then 1850ES.   In overnight trading the S&P was only able to reach 1881.50ES falling short of Friday’s highs and by the open the futures were sitting at our key 1872ES level.  After some initial jostling around the 1872ES level, the index started to roll over in midday trading reaching as low as…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +83.86 (+0.58%) to 14,539.14; S&P 500 +8.71 (+0.56%) to 1,563.23; NASDAQ +13.81 (+0.43%) to 3,258.93 Nothing much happened today, another day another Dow high, you know, the usual.  Today at the close actually would not have been a bad spot to try and take a small short as a spec trade into tomorrow.  Nothing big, nothing saying a top is in but just 10 straight days up in the Dow is somewhat extended. Economic data today included U.S. jobless claims which came in lower than expected at 332K. Stock of the day today was E-Trade Financial (ETFC) which lost over 8% after…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +5.22 (+0.04%) to 14,455.28; S&P 500 +2.04 (+0.13%) to 1,554.52; NASDAQ +2.80 (+0.09%) to 3,245.12 Early trading in the S&P was slightly lower but after noon EST made a move into the green and remained there for the remainder of the day.  Today was very reminiscent of the rally in general showing a strong sense of resilience and using any dips as buying opportunities.  If I had to point to something of worry it would likely be some of the volume which seems to be getting lighter in the index ETFs like the SPY.  Also the recent trading has left some indecision…

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…