March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: The market continues to grind higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) trying to play catch-up of late. Energy (XLE) led all sectors in today’s trading, again, and has been one of the hottest sectors of late although still down nearly -10% YTD. A relatively big data week with ISM Monday, Fed speak & ADP tomorrow, Unemployment Claims Thursday, and official Jobs data on Friday.  Traders concerned about the Fed and if we will see a December rate hike should be paying attention to this week’s data.       Reported EPS 11/3/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS…

China & Buffett support stong session

The Market: A strong overnight session in China which was triggered by changes to the latest monetary policy report and also on reports that China will overhaul state-owned enterprises helped get the market started and then Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) helped fan the fire by first purchasing Precision Cast Part (PCP) for $235/share in cash and then during an interview noted that he likes IBM (IBM) and answered a question about if he is buying that people should check the SEC filings in the coming days.  The Dow (DIA) led today’s rally. Energy (XLE) was the biggest…

Oil gets crushes while market dips

The Market: A small down day which could have looked worse if not for a late day rally off the lows.  Interesting to see the leaders to the downside were the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM).  We were looking for the market to close just off the lows and then gap down tomorrow for a short-term long opportunity but today’s end of day rally has changed that set-up. Overall we remain cautious on the broad market and believe the choppy trading of late will continue. Energy (XLE) led to the downside, again, as crude oil continues to slide reaching…

Yellen sends stocks screaming, dollar dropping

Index & Sector performance 3/18/15 The Market: After the FOMC rate decision at 2pm ET, the S&P 500 cash index rallied nearly 40 points from the lows to the highs and did so, astonishingly, in less than 2 hours but the more impressive move may have been in the U.S. Dollar which moved strongly lower and continued its decline in the after hours tagging 1.10 in the EUR/USD exchange after trading below 1.05 Monday.  The U.S. Dollar has shown remarkable strength on late so it is not surprising to see a give back and considering how far how fast we…

Week starts slow – GS grounds BA

Index & Sector performance 2/23/15 The Market: Overall a flat session with the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) finishing slightly higher while the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY) finished lower.  The main drag on the DIA today was Boeing (BA) which finished down 2.26% after Goldman downgraded the name to Sell with a $132 price target. In individual sectors it was a mixed bag with the Industrials (XLI) leading to the downside finishing down 0.43% while the Utilities (XLU) led to the upside finishing up 0.68%.  As we posted tonight in the Charts section, the XLU held a…

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…

Easy come, easy go…for the Bears

Index & Sector performance 3/4/14 The Market: In overnight trading the S&P 500 broke out over our highlighted resistance just below $1850ES and never looked back ultimately not only regaining all that was lost on Monday but also adding a few points to close at a new all time high. The news attributed the move to an easing in the Russia/Ukraine situation after Putin reportedly stated that Russia would only use force as a last result. Tomorrow will be a very interesting day in the market especially coming off the previous two days of trading.  If we start to see…

4 days down and counting…..

Index & Sector performance 9/24/13 The Market: The S&P 500 came into the day trying to snap a 3 day losing streak with even the smallest of gains but was unable to and after spending some time in positive territory, eventually lost ground and closed down for the 4th day in a row. In economic news the Case Shiller Index showed prices come in at the expected 12.4% increase year over year and slightly above expectations with a 1% month over month reading.  Richmond Manufacturing was well below expectations but generally not considered significant to the market and Consumer Confidence…