March 19, 2024

Daily Wrap

DJIA -206.04 (-1.35%) to 15,112.19;S&P 500 -22.88 (-1.39%) to 1,628.93;NASDAQ -36.59 (-1.22%) to 2,959.50 You are likely living under a rock if you were not aware that today was rate decision and FOMC minute day.  It was not about the rate decision itself as no one I heard was anticipating a move but it was all about the minutes and specifically the discussion of when the stimulus would end or the key word of recent times “tapered”.  The decision and comments sent the markets tumbling and closed down over 22 points in the S&P and 200 on the Dow.  In the grand scheme…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +21.73 (+0.14%) to 15,324.53;S&P 500 +6.05 (+0.37%) to 1,654.41;NASDAQ +17.01 (+0.57%) to 3,011.83 After the Unemployment claims number came in slightly higher than expected the futures started to sell off in the pre-market but that soon turned and by the open we were slightly positive and then rallied higher for the remainder of the day until roughly 2:30 pm EST when the highs were seen and we drifted lower into the close.  As noted in economic news Unemployment claims rose to $354K and 1st quarter GDP slightly disappointed with a 2.4% reading down from 2.5%. Dow member Disney (DIS) was in the news after the…

Week in Review

DJIA +17.21 (+0.13%) to 13,488.43; S&P 500 -0.07 (+0.00%) to 1,472.05; NASDAQ +3.88 (+0.12%) to 3,125.64 Today’s action started with the S&P 500 moving lower but recovering to essentially close flat while the Dow and Nasdaq managed to squeak our small gains.  Not to shabby after just making new 5 year closing highs. In the news today was Best Buy Co.’s (BBY) which didn’t wow people with its same-store sales which were down 1.4% but what did impress and send the stock over 16% higher was the improvement in the US.  The US is a mor focus for the BBY turn around and today’s move took the stock back to where it was for…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +61.66 (+0.46%) to 13,390.51; S&P 500 +3.87 (+0.27%) to 1,461.02; NASDAQ +14.00 (+0.45%) to 3,105.81 The highs for today were set in very early trading and then the rest of the day was spent pulling back although never going into negative territory.  I would define today as orderly and we do have Unemployment data tomorrow so I am not surprised to see a quiet day ahead. Apollo Group Inc.’s (APOL) was in the new today and in negative fashion.  After the close yesterday, APOL reported Net Income that were 11% lower than the previous year but still beat on…

Week in Review

DJIA  -120.88 (-0.91%) to 13,190.84;  S&P 500 -13.54 (-0.94%) to 1,430.15; NASDAQ -29.38 (-0.96%) to 3021.01; Friday’s action started overnight much much worse than it ended but it was still a big down day.  Main stream media attributed the drop to Boehner’s plan B not only not passing but being pulled even for a vote with the belief there was not enough votes.  While the market closed off the lows seen around noon, it was not resoundingly so and essentially we hovered near the lows all day and closed near the open.  What is interesting and puts some perspective on the days action you will see…

Daily Wrap

DJIA+100.38 (+0.76%) to 13,235.39; S&P 500+16.78 (+1.19%) to 1,430.36; NASDAQ+39.27 (+1.32%) to 3,010.60; Today was never in doubt and the highs that were made around noon in all three major averages held until just after 2pm when the indexes globally bottomed and we pressed higher closing at fresh highs by the end of the day.  What was even more impressive was the rally was stronger across tech and small caps showing a “risk on” type of attitude. Stock of the day today included Clearwire (CLWR) which agreed to be purchased by Sprint (S).  This was in focus last week as…

Week in Review

DJIA  -35.71 (-0.27%) to 13,135.01;  S&P 500  -5.87 (-0.41%) to 1,413.58; NASDAQ  -20.83 (-0.70%) to 2,971.33; Friday’s action was red across the board and it was never in doubt.  The downside was lead by the tech and inside tech the leader down was Apple Computers (AAPL) and names inside the AAPL universe.  We had a small amount of economic data today but nothing that would have been able to or did change the course.  The bias was clearly to go home today flat or short but not long as we saw the selling pick up after 2pm as traders have…

Daily Wrap

DJIA  –74.73 (-0.56%) to 13,170.72;  S&P 500 -9.03 (-0.63%) to 1,419.45;  NASDAQ -21.65 (-0.72%) to 2,992.16; Today starting mixed with the markets bouncing from slightly negative to positive and back but around 11 am EST the S&P 500 turned lowered and continued to drift the remainder of the day finally closing down just over 9 points and filling the gap from 12/10/12.  We did have economic data that was better than forecasts (including a 343K Jobless Claims number) but I think it wasn’t so strong that it alone could push the market higher. The stock of today in my opinion…