March 19, 2024

Pop off support as FOMC looms

The Market: A nice snap back rally today as the S&P 500 continues to hold the 200 day SMA.  We would not be surprised to see limited action overnight and in early trading tomorrow as traders wait to see what the Fed says at 2pm ET. Yesterday’s laggard, Energy (XLE), is today’s leader finishing up 2.86% followed closely by Transportation (IYT) which finished up 2.75%.  Also posting strong sessions was Materials (XLB), Industrials (XLI), and HeathCare (XLV) finishing up 2.09%, 1.94% and 1.81% respectively. FOMC statement tomorrow and remember we are still in the thick of earnings reports which will…

Market continues to grind

Index & Sector performance 2/19/15 The Market: The slow grind into options expiration continues with the S&P 500 (SPY) and Dow (DIA) finishing slightly lower while the Russell 2000 (IWM) finished slightly higher and the NASDAQ (QQQ) led.  We would expect to potentially see volatility tomorrow not only due to options expiration but also potential headline risk out of Europe. Overall a mixed session as yesterday’s sector leader to the upside, the Utilities (XLU), was today’s downside leader finishing 1/13% lower while Technology (XLK) followed closely by Consumer Discretionary (XLY) led to the upside. With only Flash Manufacturing PMI tomorrow,…

XLU stands out in today’s action

Index & Sector performance 2/18/15 The Market: A choppy session overall which ended up finishing flat.  Some negative divergence is building on the S&P 500 60 minute chart but, even when it leads to a pullback, the divergence can exist for many day.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see the index continue to meander and drift higher for the remainder of the week into Options expiration. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) leading the way and by a wide margin finishing up 2.37%.  We would be watching the XLU closely here to see if it can build on…

S&P on 5 day win streak

Index & Sector performance 4/21/14   The Market: The S&P 500 has been on an impressive  5 day winning streak but much like the “V” bottom we say back in February this year, this rally is coming on lower than average volume with today being by far the lowest in the S&P 500 sector ETF “SPY”. We stated in our 4/14 write-up that we would not be surprised to see the market used short term oversold levels and the shortened holiday Op-Ex week to rally.  The question now is as traders get back to the desk in both the U.S….

Today the quiet before the storm?

Index & Sector performance 10/31/13 The Market: Second straight down day for the S&P 500.  The day was slightly more active than the closing prices might suggest as a very early up open was quickly sold down to the 1756 levels where the market bottomed around 10:30am EST and then rallied to 1768 by 2:30 pm EST.  What took almost all day to gain was then lost in that last hour of trading with the S&P closing back near the earlier lows for the day at 1756.  What needs to be seen is if this relatively quiet day is the…