March 19, 2024

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…

Market churns while XLU heads lower

Index & Sector performance 2/25/15 The Market: Another day of churn as the market continues to grind with an upward bias.  As we posted over at StockTwits we are starting to see a lot of negative divergence setting up on the MACD.  Divergence is not a trigger itself but is showing signs that each move higher comes with less momentum and excitement. Utilities (XLU) was the leader to the downside and a name we recently posted about in the Charts section.   After seeing a lot of people bullish on the name, we laid the road map we felt the Bulls…

Higher inflation ahead of Fed

Index & Sector performance 6/17/14 The Market: In today’s Economic news, CPI came in higher than expected while the Building Permits and Housing Starts were below estimates.  The initial reaction off this data sent the S&P 500 futures trading lower but ultimately the index bottomed before the open and continued higher the remainder of the day. Checking the WSC scoreboard the Russell 2000 led the charge while the other indices closed flat or slightly higher.  In individual sectors, the Financials (XLF) posting a 1.02% gain and the Retailers (XRT) finishing up 0.87% were the strongest groups.  In the Financials, MetLife…

S&P finds support at 20 day SMA

Index & Sector performance 3/12/14 The Market: Overnight trading took the S&P 500 futures index down to our target region of $1857-50 with the low of the session printing $1853.75ES right near the open which correlated with the S&P 500 cash index touching the 20 day SMA.  From there we bounced and then spend the rest of the day consolidating in a flag which has broken to the upside in after hours but with not much gusto.  Until the index clears the $1870-72.50ES area we will consider the potential for more downside. Tomorrow is the heaviest day of the week…

Low volume day follows the trend

Index & Sector performance 11/22/13 The Market: The market made solid gains trending higher all day to close over $1800 in the S&P 500.  If there was anything concerning about today’s rally, it was the volume which seemed very light but seeing a market move in the direction of the trend on low volume days is not uncommon. There was not much on the Economic data front today besides some fed speak but Thursday the 21st was big.  Unemployment Claims came in better than expected posting 10K below (323K vs 333K) expectations while the previous week was adjusted slightly higher…

Thank you to our Vets!

Index & Sector performance DATE The Market: Any given day stocks will make big moves but today with the bond market closed in observance of Veteran’s Day the broad markets seemed happy to consolidate.  Do not be surprised if today’s action is the calm before a strong directional move. Being that today was a Bank Holiday, there was no government economic data announced.  We did see the NFIB Small Business Index come in slightly below expectations posting a 91.6 when 93.5 was expected. Story Stocks: Merger Monday as ViroPharma (VPHM) agreed to be acquired by UK drugmaker  Shire (SHPG).  The…