Buy the rumor – Sell the news?
Index & Sector performance 10/16/13 The Market: Another strong day in the market sent the S&P 500 index over 23 points higher after a brief consolidation day yesterday. What started as a small gap quickly ran in the first hour of trading eventually topping at 11:15 am EST. The market then consolidated until 2:30 pm EST when it bottom and started a rally back toward the highs of the day. Amidst a light economic data week, the news of Washington and the pending debt deal have continued to drive attention and trader reaction. Ahead of tomorrow’s Unemployment data (357K Consensus)…
S&P 500 narrowly escapes with a gain
Index & Sector performance 10/9/13 The Market: Rumors out of Washington have helped drive the indices of late as investors are looking for more information regarding the government shutdown as well as who may be replacing Ben Bernanke. News today broke that Janet Yellen will be the next Federal Reserve chairperson taking the place of Ben Bernanke at the end of January 2014. Initial opinions seemed to be that Yellen will continue on with a more dovish stance for the Fed. Today looked as though the market could not gain traction but at 11:30 am EST the market bottomed and…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -32.41 (-0.21%) to 15,451.85;S&P 500 -6.24 (-0.37%) to 1,676.26;NASDAQ -8.99 (0.25%) to 3,598.50 A relatively boring down day as the highs for the day were marked in the opening minuted and then the S&P 500 to lose ground until it bottomed around 1:30 with some small positive divergences on the 5 minute MACD and then rallied until 2:30 pm EST where it again lost ground but held above those earlier lows. The market spent the last 30-40 minutes rallying but never regaining the 2:30 pm highs. In economic news we had CPI data with the core meeting expectations of up 0.2%…
General Motors (GM)
General Motors (GM) was upgraded today to Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs. Some poke fun of the CV designation as they mock it implies GS doesn’t have conviction on their other Buy ratings but I think what GS is trying to do with the designation is denote timeliness. Something on CV is likely far from its price target and also likely or able, in GS’ mind, to move in that direction relatively quickly. At least that is my take. In that same light GS quoted near term catalysts for the reason for the upgrade including the potential for a dividend…
Week in Review
DJIA +10.37 (+0.07%) to 14,547.51; S&P 500 +13.64 (+0.88%) to 1,555.25; NASDAQ +38.51 (+1.40%) to 2,780.46 In Thursday night’s recap I noted that the bears were not yet in total control but the bulls needed to get the index moving or there could be a further imminent drop. Friday was able to firm up and take back some control but you wouldn’t know it by watching the Dow which only pressed into positive territory within the last hour of trading. The broader indices were much stronger. Weighing on the Dow were three big names which reported EPS that were not met with great…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +157.58 (+1.08%) to 14,756.78; S&P 500 +22.21 (+1.43%) to 1,574.57; NASDAQ +40.94 (+1.46%) to 2,838.41 Someone sounded an “all clear” notice today and the major indices all had nice gains including the S&P 500 which closed up over 1.4% for the day and at the day’s highs. The bottom was actually made in the futures yesterday not long after the close. Sometimes when you see bounces like this you will see an index like the Dow lead which I am always a skeptic of but today the S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq Composite all outpaced the Dow to the upside with the…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -265.86 (-1.79%) to 14,599.20; S&P 500 -36.49 (-2.30%) to 1,552.36; NASDAQ -59.01 (-2.07%) to 2,797.47 Today was a very active day in the markets but it is appropriate to take the time to stop and send well wishes and prayers to those involved in the Boston Marathon incident which as I write is still unfolding with not many details but clearly today people were hurt and my prayers go to them and their family. The market began with a small gap lower on weak Chinese data and overall global outlook concerns which continued to snowball into larger losses which were not just…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +111.90 (+0.77%) to 14,559.65; S&P 500 +12.08 (+0.78%) to 1,563.77; NASDAQ +17.18 (+0.53%) to 3,252.48 Today started with a gap higher that consolidated and then continued until the end of the day. We also saw a fair amount of economic data and the results were mixed with better home prices and durable goods but worse consumer confidence and new home sales. Despite the amount of data, today’s move seemed more about a bias of the market to go higher than it was anything that was announced. Goldman Sachs (GS) announced that it amended its warrant agreement with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) which allows…
Week in Review
DJIA -25.03 (-0.17%) to 14,514.11; S&P 500 -2.53 (-0.16%) to 1,560.70; NASDAQ -9.86 (-0.30%) to 3,249.07 Finally a down day! After 10 straight days higher the Dow and S&P 500 finally has a respite albeit small. Some looking at the SPY today might have thought the markets were lower or noticed a disruption and that is due to the fact that the SPY pays a dividend which it went ex-dividend Friday for roughly $0.70. In economic data we had CPI which came in slightly hot with a 0.7% increase when 0.5% was expected. When looking at the “core” PCI we met expectations of up…
Week in Review
DJIA +53.68 (+0.39%) to 13,649.70; S&P 500 +5.04 (+0.34%) to 1,485.98; NASDAQ -1.29 (-0.04%) to 3,134.71 Week economic data couldn’t put a damper on the S&P 500 which added onto Thursday’s decent gains. The Nasdaq wasn’t able to join in on the party but had Apple Computers (AAPL), Intel (INTC) and Facebook (FB) as well as other weighing it down. We did have good economic data announced but not in the U.S., China reported GDP growth f 7.9% in Q4 which helped take the full year growth to 7.8% which outpaced consensus analyst expectations (7.7%) and the government’s expectations (7.5%)….