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…
Early dip is bought, finishes flat
The Market: Overall a quiet day in the markets following yesterday’s FOMC statement as an early dip in the S&P 500 found buyers and the index finished flat on the session while the NASDAQ (QQQ) led. The S&P 500 looks to need at least a short term pullback to regroup before any longer term move higher but we will be interested to watch that first pullback as we are from from believing the coast is all clear and that the market is off to new highs. In individual sections, Utilities (XLU) led finishing up 0.74% on the session followed by…
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. …
Ceasefire helps stocks higher
Index & Sector performance 8/18/14 The Market: Strong strong session with the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM) closing up over 1% while the S&P 500 (SPY) and NASDAQ (QQQ) were not too far behind. It appears the markets were able to build on Friday’s late day move off the lows being helped by optimism of a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire. The IWM, which has spent the majority of the year in the red, is not only down 0.23% on the year. Multiple sectors posted strong performances including the Transportation (IYT), Retail (XRT), Industrials (XLI), and Financials (XLF) all up over 1%…
GDP disappoints but market ignores
Index & Sector performance 4/30/14 The Market: As you can see in the table below, the U.S. Q1 GDP number came in well below expectations. While Q1 was not expected to be a high growth quarter, clearly analysts did not expect a near negative number. Certainly the colder than expected weather could have and likely did play a role but on our opinion you cannot completely blame a miss like this on the weather. So why might traders and investors be willing to look past this data besides the weather? Possibly because a number like this allows the Fed to…