Retail sales beat, Unemployment drags
Index & Sector performance 12/12/13 The Market: The market continued picked up where it left losing more ground but not as dramatic as the 1% down yesterday. The majority of the losses where in the beginning part of the day with the market making the lows for the day around 12:30 pm EST and starting to rally. That rally halted around 3pm EST and the market used the last hour to sell off not quite making it back to the midday lows. In economic data, Retail Sales number beat expectations and with Core Sales doubling expectations posting a 0.4% and…
S&P 500 closes at new highs
Index & Sector performance 10/17/13 The Market: The government put the debt ceiling behind the nation….until the beginning of next year. The temporary resolution should take the issue off the front pages, for now. The markets started with a gap lower which was quickly bought up and a strong rally continued to build off the 10/09 lows with the S&P 500 posting all time closing highs. In economic news Unemployment Claims came in at 358K vs consensus expectations of 357K so inline and then the Philly Fed Manufacturing index saw a small drop but was better than expected. CNBC reported…
Charts to Watch
Occidental Petroleum (OXY): After a nice trade off the 200 day SMA, OXY climbed its way higher to the longer term trend line finding initial resistance as would be expected. Any pulbacks might be the last opportunity in this name before it looks to be on a trek to 100+. Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF): Has been consolidating well after finally putting in what looks to be a bottom. With the now upward sloping 50 day SMA as support and the downward sloping 200 day as resistance the battle lines are drawn and the action is tightening. Breakout above the…
Great Initial Claims data but….
The Market: The markets saw a small down day which after the recent bullish action only seems to be best described as a consolidation. The leading sector of the day was technology which saw Apple (AAPL) Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) lead but the next best sector was the Consumer Staples and the standout there was Walgreen (WAG) which caught an upgrade to Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs. In economic data there was a great deal of data including the often watched Initial Jobless Claims which came in better than expected posting a 292K number vs the consensus estimate of…
Charts to Watch
What ended up being a tough week for the market left many names I was following pulling back m0re than I would have desired but still intact. While I believe it is always prudent to be looking at stocks from the short side, the longer term trend is still higher. I think that it is VERY likely that we see the markets continue to consolidate and even lose ground but I think people tend to lose tract of their long ideas during these times and this is when you want to be watching them as if they hold in during…
Charts to Watch
Today was a tough day for the Bulls but there are still some charts on the long side which interest me. They may not all be ready to go here and now but represent a mix of sectors and situations. Expeditors International (EXPD) could be setting up a longer term trade opportunity but first I want to see the 200 day SMA hold as support. Amgen (AMGN) acts well in what looks to be a longer consolidation pattern. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Potential Inverse Head & Shoulders pattern but wants to see 200 Day SMA hold Apache (APA) Still…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -8.68 (-0.06%) to 15,291.66;S&P 500 +0.30 (+0.02%) to 1,652.62;NASDAQ +16.50 (+0.47%) to 3,520.76 If you closed down your computer and went away after the close, you missed an after market that was more exciting than the entire trading day! I have the benefit of writing this after the close where we see the S&P 500 futures up nicely after the close likely tied to a Q&A session held by Ben Bernanke Chairman of the Federal Reserve (if you didn’t know). I will need more time to read through but I also didn’t think there was too much new information. …
Week in Review
DJIA +52.38 (+0.36%) to 14,578.54; S&P 500 +6.34 (+0.41%) to 1,569.19; NASDAQ +11.00 (+0.34%) to 3,267.52 Friday the markets were closed in observance of Good Friday. Below is Thursday’s update and the weekly recap. Today the markets finished off the week higher and the idea that we will be rallying into the long weekend proved correct but not without a few attempts to take it lower. This also allowed the S&P 500 to follow the Dow in closing at a new record closing high surpassing the previous closing high of 1565.15. In economic data, the U.S. jobless claims increased 16K from the prior…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -33.49 (-0.23%) to 14,526.16; S&P 500 -0.92 (-0.06%) to 1,562.85; NASDAQ +4.04 (+0.12%) to 3,256.52 Today the markets started lower gaping down over 10 point in the S&P but the first 10 minuted of trading proved to set the lows and we remarkable rallied to positive for the day before finally closing ever so slightly lower. This had made a few occasions where the market has given the Bears a head fake and has continued to show resilience. I have been expecting this week to be up or at least neutral and with tomorrow being the last day of the trading week…
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…