April 16, 2024

Low volume rally led by Russell 2K

Index & Sector performance 5/20/14 The Market: An overall light volume day was led to the upside by the Russell 2000 followed by the NASDAQ 100.  In individual sectors, Utilities (XLU) led to the downside followed by the Consumer Staples (XLP) while the transportation index was the largest gainer with components Matson (MATX) and JetBlue (JBLU) up the most gaining 3.05% and 2.42% respectively.  MATX and JBLU both appear to be viable long trade candidates going forward. This is an extremely quiet Economic data week with a lot of Fed speak.  Earnings will play a role for individual stocks so…

S&P takes back overnight losses plus

Index & Sector performance 5/5/14 The Market: The S&P futures moved lower in the Sunday overnight session attributed to weak economic data out of China as well continued unrest in Ukraine.  The futures continued lower throughout early trading Monday but found a bottom right at the open on an initial spike lower to 1860.50ES which was quickly bought and the index started a march higher reaching 1880ES by 2:30 pm ET.  The index spent the last hour consolidating the near 20 point intraday rally.  If 1872ES holds in overnight trading it appears the index could look to make a move…

Strong up day ahead of Jobs

Index & Sector performance 2/6/14 The Market:   In the News:     The following noteworthy companies are scheduled to report earnings before tomorrow’s open: CI, MCO, WYN, LH, BPL, APO, CBOE, MSG, FLIR   Analyst Comments:       The Game Plan:

Decline….What Decline?

Index & Sector performance 1/15/14 The Market: The vast majority of today’s action was on the open where the S&P 500 gaped higher and ran until 11am EST which marked the highs of the day.  The remainder of the day stayed in a 5 point range from the 11am highs as the market digested the strong reversal rally which has gained roughly 35 S&P points since Monday’s lows. In Economic Data, Headline PPI slightly missed expectations while Core PPI beat.  The Beige Book reiterated an overall positive outlook on the economy showing moderate growth.  Tomorrow traders will be most focused…

Low volume consolidation day

Index & Sector performance 12/30/13 The Market: With only a few trading days left in the ear the market has seen a second straight consolidation date with the entire range of the S&P 500 coming in less than 4 points. In economic news Pending Home Sales came in worse than expected posting a 0.2% when 1.1% was expected.  Tomorrow we get more data than today with Case-Shiller, Chicago PMI and Consumer Confidence all scheduled for release. In the News: Crocs (CROX) gained over 21% after partnering with Blackstone (BX) where BX will buy nearly $200M in convertible preferred stock.  CROX…

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…

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 +35.87 (+0.24%) to 15,118.49; S&P 500 +7.03 (+0.43%) to 1,633.70; NASDAQ +19.90 (+0.67%) to 2,981.02 Friday was a very choppy trading session which sent the index bouncing around and when it looked like it could possible be setting up for a late day sell-off ended up instead closing near highs for the day.  In economic news the calendar was light but had a great deal of Fed speak throughout the day including Chairman Bernanke right near the open. The Dell (DELL) going private saga continued where two large DELL investors, Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, advised that they will not be voting for Michael…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +48.92 (+0.32%) to 15,105.12; S&P 500 +6.73 (+0.41%) to 1,632.69; NASDAQ +15.36 (+0.52%) to 2,968.24 The market continues to grind higher during.  Today started with a gap lower which like many others in the past was quickly bought up and sent to new highs.  There was a brief downdraft late in the day sending the markets back down toward even on the day but yet again the bulls stepped in and not only regained all those late losses but again extended higher into the close.  Tomorrow we have  Unemployment claims and I show estimates at 333K with a reminder that last week’s number was the…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +87.31 (+0.58%) to 15,056.20; S&P 500 +8.46 (+0.52%) to 1,625.96; NASDAQ -2.48 (-0.08%) to 2,952.88 My idea of an up morning to noon EST time resulting in a sell off looked good as the S&P 500 initially peaking around 10am EST and then started to sell off losing about 7 points in 15 minutes.  That ultimately marked the lows for the day and the bulls stepped in buying the market higher and we finally closed 9 points off of those lows leaving the SPY ETF up over 14% YTD. Electronic Arts (EA) announced a deal with Disney (DIS) to partner on Star Wars video games. …