March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: We expected to see a tight trading range until the FOMC statement but instead we saw buyers in advance of the statement as the S&P 500 (SPY) pressed higher.  The the announcement came and there was a sharp sell-off but buyers came right back and all 4 major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished above the pre-FOMC announcement highs. As was expected by many, the FOMC left the Fed Fund Rates unchanged but, based on the comments, it appears a rate hike is on the table for December if the data warrants.  We also saw the committee…

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…

Greece rules headlines in slow session

Index & Sector performance 2/9/15 The Market: Losses across the WSC Scoreboard with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the way followed by the Dow (DIA), which was affected by McDonald’s (MCD) finishing down 1.35% after reporting a drop in January sales of 1.8%.  Otherwise traders seem focused on the continued fighting between Greece and the Eurozone. Energy was the only sector on the WSC Scoreboard to finish higher but it wasn’t by much and was helped by Oil continuing its recovery.  Today’s biggest laggard was HeathCare (XLV) which finished down 1.18% followed by Transportation (IYT) down 0.99% and Utilities (XLU)…

Tech and HealthCare EPS lead

Index & Sector performance 7/23/14 The Market: Today the stand out index was the NASDAQ (QQQ) which finished 0.64% higher with a lot of help from Apple (AAPL) which finished the day up 2.61% after reporting EPS yesterday after the close.  The S&P 500 (SPY) and Russell 2000 (IWM) were relatively flat, while the Dow (DIA) was the clear laggard and the only index to finish down on the session.  Weighing on the Dow was Boeing (BA) and Caterpillar (CAT) which finished down 2.34% and 1.53% respectively. In individual sectors it was HealthCare (XLV) which shined helped immensely by Intuitive…

Intraday swing leave only small gains

Index & Sector performance 4/28/14 The Market: After moving slightly higher in the overnight and early trading, the S&P 500 quickly dropped in the midday session before finding a bottom around 1:30 pm ET.  While the S&P fell a few points short of making it back to the earlier intraday highs, it did manage to post a small gain on the day.   The Dow led the major indices helped by a 4.2% gain from Pfizer (PFE) while the Russell 2000 closed slightly down on the day. Many big name stocks in the news including the aforementioned Pfizer (PFE) who…

Market starts on Tryptophan

Index & Sector performance 12/2/13 The Market: Overall not a very active day in this first full trading session after the Thanksgiving holiday and to start December.      Today’s action started with an early dip that was quickly bought and started to rally higher until 12:30 pm EST.  That is where the rally lost steam and started a descent back down toward the earlier lows.  The market reached and went through those lows finally closing at $1800 in the S&P 500.  It is unclear if this slow start to the month is about to start a slide or if it is…

All quiet before jobs data

Index & Sector performance 10/21/13 The Market: Not too much to report as it was a quiet down day in the S&P 500 and Dow with the Nasdaq making small gains much on the back of a strong performance from Apple (AAPL) closing up nearly 2.5% on the day. In economic news we had Existing Home Sales with came in light posting a 5.29M when 5.31M was expected.  Tomorrow will be a much bigger day as we get the jobs report that was delayed due to the government shutdown.  Current forecast is for 182K and Unemployment rate of 7.3% Story…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -21.73 (-0.16%) to 13,971.24; S&P 500 -0.92 (-0.06%) to 1,517.01; NASDAQ -1.87 (-0.06%) to 3,192.00 Today’s market held in a tight range and is reflected in the close in the S&P 500 which is down less than 1point.  This week has a fair amount of data, fed speak and some scheduled Obama talk.  I try and log it all and then update the numbers as they come out so visit the Event’s Calendar for the updates and there is also currently a dividends and splits list. The stock of the day today was Nordisk (NVO) which received an FDA Complete Response Letter indicating that the company’s insulin products will…

Charts of Interest

Thoughts and analysis are provided on each chart itself or you can go read some quick comments for each at StockTwits (WSConsensus) GMCR, ZIP, GT, DECK, QCOM, AL, AMD, SBUX, EXPD, GTAT, PCLN, TSLA, CIM, CEL, FSLR, RIMM, DISH, ABMD, PANW, RF