March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: A lower close for all 4 main indices on the WSC Scoreboard as the Russell 2000 (IWM) led to the downside while the NASDAQ (QQQ) was the relative outperformer. The Retail (XRT) sector was the biggest loser on the WSC Scoreboard followed closely by Energy (XLE).  Unlike some other sectors, the XRT is not heavily weighted in a few stocks and, as of 11/10/15, has no stock weighted more than 1.27% so when you see strong moves up or down, like today, it is due to a majority of the names trading in that direction.  Bucking the trend…

Weak ADP data helps market gap

The Market: The market gapped and continued higher for the first hour of trading which the news attributed to a weak ADP number which could keep the Fed from raising interest rates anytime soon.  After the first hour of trading the major indices began to lose ground and, while they all finished up on the day, they were all also well off their highs. Leading on the WSC Scoreboard was Retail (XRT) which was the only sector to finish up by over 1% followed closely by Technology (XLK) which closed up 0.97%.  The only two losing sectors on the day…

Strong start to the week led by Tech

The Market:     Reporting EPS 7/14/15 Pre-Market:   Reporting EPS 7/14/15 After the Close:   Analyst Comments:

Hospitals rocket as Supreme Court rules

  The Market: After an early morning small pop, which helped work off some of the very short-term oversold levels, the market declined the rest of the day finishing near the session’s lows. Energy (XLE) was the largest losing sector on the WSC Scoreboard followed closely by Transportation (IYT) which was the biggest loser yesterday.  However, we would be watching the IYT as it appears to be coming into a support region and could soon provide a trade set-up to the long side. Health Care (XLV) was the lone green sector on the Scoreboard as the Supreme Court ruled that…

Market shakes off Greece

Index & Sector performance 2/5/15 The Market: Sorry, no comments at this time but please check back later.     Reporting EPS 2/5/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS 2/6/15 Pre-Market: Analyst Comments:

Eurozone fears trigger late day sell-off

Index & Sector performance 2/4/15 The Market: Monday’s reversal in the S&P 500 (SPY) of the 200 day SMA continued Tuesday and was extending in today’s session, even with Oil trading lower, until later in the trading day when the index dropped sharply.  Traders pointed to news our of Europe that the ECB will not allow Banks to use Greek government debt as collateral for loans as the catalyst.  The Dow (DIA) was the only index on the WSC Scoreboard which managed to finish higher but that was greatly due to Disney (DIS) beating EPS and finishing up 7.63% on…

Eurozone helps U.S. go green YTD

Index & Sector performance 1/8/15 The Market: The Dow (DIA), S&P 500 (SPY) and Nasdaq (QQQ) are all green for the year as of today’s close with the Russell 2000 (IWM) lagging down 0.8%.  Considering there have only been about 5 trading days in the new year, this is not saying much but the recent 2 day recovery is impressive and reminiscent of what we saw all 2013 and 2014. Helping the U.S. market today was statements from Mario Draghi that the ECB will discuss adding more or new monetary stimulus at their next rate meeting in two weeks.  This…

Tight trading ends with pop higher

Index & Sector performance 11/18/14 The Market: After multiple sessions trading in a tight range the broad indices broke-out to new highs.  It is worth noting that volume was again light but that has been the case throughout much of this recent rally after the mid October bottom.  In the after hours session the futures started to give back some of today’s gains so we will be looking to see if today was a false breakout which gives way to a pullback or if the indices can hold. In individual sectors, HealthCare (XLV) led finishing 1.61% higher helped by strong…

S&P nearing last week’s low

Index & Sector performance 10/7/14 The Market: After being rejected by the 50 day SMA yesterday, the S&P 500 (SPY), along with the other major indices on the WSC Scoreboard, followed up today with a strong down session.  So far the SPY has managed to stay above the 10/2/14 spike low but we are very close. Utilities (XLU) continue to outperform on this recent down turn and after spending some of today in positive territory managed to only finish 0.14% lower.  Next best was the Consumer Staples down 0.59%.  Leading to the downside today was yesterday’s top loser, Transportation (IYT), …

Financials help S&P to new highs

Index & Sector performance 8/21/14 The Market: The 4 major indices drifted higher in today’s session but not by much and all on lower volume which has been a trend. Mixed bag across the individual sectors but the clear winner was the Financials (XLF) finishing the day up 1.18%.  The big standout in the sector was Bank of America (BAC) which finished the day up over 4% and looks poised for a run back to the March 2014 highs of $18.  If BAC is indeed in rally mode we would expect today’s lows to not be breached.  Also having a…