March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: Stocks had another tough session following a second day where the Chinese market was halted.  Chinese officials have removed the circuit breaker restrictions for tomorrow’s session and traders appear to be preparing for a volatile session but it will be interesting to see if allowing the index to freely trade will ultimately help it bottom — even if only for the short-term. Another session where no Sector saw gains but the relative outperformers were Retail (XRT), which was helped by Wal-Mart (WMT) after gaining 2.3% on the session, and Monday’s leader Utilities (XLU). Along with what happens overnight…

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…

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…

Holiday trading continued

Index & Sector performance 12/29/14 The Market: Today’s session was a continuation of the previous week’s holiday trading and will likely continue this way for the rest of the week with Thursday being closed for New Year’s Day.  The Russell 2000 (IWM) led while the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Dow (DIA) finished slightly lower. The leading individual sectors were the Utilities (XLU) and Retail (XRT) finishing up 1.15% and 0.98% respectively.  As might be expected with the QQQ finishing lower, Technology (XLK) lagged followed by Consumer Staples (XLP). There were no scheduled Economic Events today but there is some noteworthy data…

S&P showing signs of indecision

Index & Sector performance 11/13/14 The Market: The NASDAQ (QQQ) led today’s trading  while the Russell 2000 (IWM) was the clear laggard.  The S&P 500 (SPY) is refusing to break with the exception of very small sharp pullbacks which are short lived.  Volume over the past two days remains light although is an uptick from earlier in the week.  We view the current action as indecision as the SPY wrestles with price discovery and ultimately expect lower levels to be seen. Energy (XLE) led the WSC Scoreboard sectors lower giving back some of the recent hard fought gains but did…

Low volume give back after 3 solid days

Index & Sector performance 10/22/14 The Market: Today marked a give back after 3 solid days of gains.  The leader to the downside was the index that we have been watching closely for the past few weeks, the Russell 2000 (IWM).  The IWM’s underperformance throughout the year was a warning just as its outperformance near the recent bottom.  The IWM has put in work to find a bottom and start to move off the lows of last week but it is not our of the woods yet in our opinion.  First step is remaining above $107 and then the lows…

Tech & Small cap trend change?

Index & Sector performance 9/3/14 The Market: While the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY) closed essentially flat, the Nasdaq (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) both finished decisively lower.  In addition the technical action in both the QQQ and IWM is concerning as both started the day gaping above the previous day’s highs to only then sell off the remainder of the day finishing below the previous day’s lows.  Those into candlestick charting will recognize this as an Engulfing pattern and can signal a change in trend. In individual sectors it the Utilities (XLU) leading the charge finishing the day…

Tech and HealthCare EPS lead

Index & Sector performance 7/23/14 The Market: Today the stand out index was the NASDAQ (QQQ) which finished 0.64% higher with a lot of help from Apple (AAPL) which finished the day up 2.61% after reporting EPS yesterday after the close.  The S&P 500 (SPY) and Russell 2000 (IWM) were relatively flat, while the Dow (DIA) was the clear laggard and the only index to finish down on the session.  Weighing on the Dow was Boeing (BA) and Caterpillar (CAT) which finished down 2.34% and 1.53% respectively. In individual sectors it was HealthCare (XLV) which shined helped immensely by Intuitive…

6 day win streak ends..new starts?

Index & Sector performance 4/23/14 The Market: Today’s session snapped a 6 day winning streak for the S&P 500 but the losses were small and maintained a very orderly structure throughout the day.  In after hours trading, the futures traded sharply higher helped by Apple’s (AAPL) earnings which beat EPS and revenue along with announcing a 7 for 1 stock split, increase in the buyback, and an 8% increase in the dividend. With tonight’s overnight action, the S&P 500 is now closing in on the all time highs .  Focus will continue to be on earnings especially with a very…

Do you buy the dip?

Index & Sector performance 1/28/14 The Market: In the overnight session the futures managed to recover gaining nearly 20 points from Monday’s lows.  When the Durables number was announced and came in much worse than expected the market puled back challenging support but that support held and by the open the market was back near the pre-market highs.  The remainder of the day the S&P 500 stayed in a relatively tight trading range with all of the major indices closing higher. In Economic news the Durable Goods numbers came in much worse than expected with Core Durable Goods Orders posting…