March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: A late day rally helped the market close well off the midday lows but all 4 major indices on the WSC Scorobard still finished down near or over 1%.  Based on the recent action, we expect to see lower levels in the short-term. In individual sectors, Retail (XRT) was the hardest hit sector on the WSC Scorboard with Priceline (PCLN) finishing down over 9% on the session after reporting EPS which beat expectations but guidance that fell short.  We will be watching Ctrip.com (CTRP) which is scheduled to report EPS tomorrow, November 10th, after the close — CTRP…

China & Buffett support stong session

The Market: A strong overnight session in China which was triggered by changes to the latest monetary policy report and also on reports that China will overhaul state-owned enterprises helped get the market started and then Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) helped fan the fire by first purchasing Precision Cast Part (PCP) for $235/share in cash and then during an interview noted that he likes IBM (IBM) and answered a question about if he is buying that people should check the SEC filings in the coming days.  The Dow (DIA) led today’s rally. Energy (XLE) was the biggest…

Tech closes at new 52 week high

The Market: Stocks continue to rebound strongly after a rough week of trading last week.  The NASDAQ (QQQ) led today’s charge finishing at a new 52 week closing high followed by the S&P 500 (SPY) while the Russell 2000 (IWM) and Dow (DIA) lagged. Many individual sectors outperformed in the session with Utilities (XLU), Reatil (XRT), Technology (XLK), and Consumer Staples (XLP) all finishing up over 1%.       Reporting EPS 7/16/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS 7/17/15 Pre-Market:   Analyst Comments:

SPY is sitting on the 50 day SMA

Index & Sector performance 9/23/14 The Market: U.S. led airstrikes in Syria and weaker than expected European manufacturing data helped continued weakness in the broad markets with the Russell 2000 (IWM) again leading the way to the downside.  After peaking back positive YTD in late August and into early this month, the IWM is now down 3.46%.  The NASDAQ (QQQ) was the clear winner, on a relative basis, and was helped by a strong showing in Apple (AAPL) which closed up 1.56%.  The S&P 500 (SPY) is now near, essentially at, its 50 day SMA and we are very interested…

Retail leads low volume rally

Index & Sector performance 6/4/14 The Market: Another very light volume trading day led by the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 while the S&P 500 climbed to a new closing high. There were mixed results across the sectors but a stand out was the Retail (XRT) sector which closed up 0.76%.  Walgreen (WAG) finished up 4.19% to a new closing high on better than expected Q3 sales along with solid same-store-sales up 5.1%.  A more speculative name in retail also moving higher today was RadioShack (RSH) which closed up 8.63%.  For those looking for a speculative trade, RSH is a prime…