March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: Overall it was another tight trading range session but the Russell 2000 (IWM) continued its underperformance and finished down over –1%.  It appears that traders may be on hold until the FOMC statement and rate decision tomorrow. Transportation (IYT) sector was the hardest hit on the WSC Scoreboard as the sector ETF finished down -2.65% followed by yesterday’s biggest loser, Energy (XLE), which closed down -1.2%.  The biggest gaining sector on the session was HealthCare (XLV) which finished up 1.84% and was helped by Allergan (AGN), Biogen Inc (BIIB), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX), and Mylan NV (MYL) which all…

Early gap up fades, XLE leads lower

Index & Sector performance 4/21/15 The Market: The Nasdaq (QQQ) was the only sector that managed to finish the session higher while the Blue Chip Dow (DIA) was the leader to the downside. After spending the majority of the year down, Energy (XLE) has recently rallied to up YTD but there was no optimism today as the sector finished over 1% lower.  Also finishing lower was Utilities (XLU) down 0.89%, Materials (XLB) down 0.74%, and Financials (XLF) down 0.50%.  Today’s clear leader was HeathCare (XLV) which managed to close up 0.68% on the session. No tracked Economic data yesterday or today…

Central bank news abroad drives headlines

Index & Sector performance 1/21/15 The Market: It was a relatively choppy session which saw the Dow (DIA), S&P 500 (SPY), and NASDAQ (QQQ) manage to finish higher while the Russell 2000 (IWM) closed lower.  There were reports out of Europe that the ECB Executive Board proposed the purchase of EUR 50B/mo of bonds in a program that should last at least a year.  There was more news from outside the U.S. with a surprise rate cut in Canada to counteract the sharply declining oil prices. Energy (XLE) led the charge today as all sectors on the WSC Scoreboard finished…

Volatility the new norm

Index & Sector performance 10/16/14 The Market: A session like today may look uneventful when scanning the WSC Scoreboard and looking at the end of day changes but it masks the large intraday swings.  An example is the S&P 500 (SPY) had a roughly 50 point range from high to low today (5 points in the SPY) which represents nearly 3% based on today’s opening price.  Traders and investors need to be prepared for an environment with increased volatility which could last for an extended period. The Russell 2000 (IWM) remains the clear leader of late finishing up over 1%. …

Argentina default rattles global markets

Index & Sector performance 7/31/14 The Market: A sea of red today on the WSC Scoreboard with all 4 major indices closing strongly lower led by the Russell 2000 (IWM).  Major media outlets pointed to weakness overnight in International markets caused by Argentina’s default. Looking at the technicals, the S&P 500 (SPY) and the Dow (DIA) both clearly lost their 50 day moving averages on a closing basis and did so on an increase in volume.  The NASDAQ (QQQ), which has been this year’s strongest performer, is still a few percent above the 50’s while the Russell 2000 (IWM) has…

Global unrest helps fuel market decline

Index & Sector performance 7/17/14 The Market: Broad based sell off today saw all 5 (S&P 500 equal weight index (RSP) added today) major indices from the WSC Scoreboard finish over 1% lower except the Dow (DIA) which managed to only lose 0.85%.  No surprise leading the way to the downside was again the Russell 2000 (IWM) which is now solidly down for the year and underperforming the S&P 500 (SPY) by 8.5% and the NASDAQ (QQQ) by 10%. The double top in the IWM which we started discussing over a week ago is now more pronounced and as a…

Decline….What Decline?

Index & Sector performance 1/15/14 The Market: The vast majority of today’s action was on the open where the S&P 500 gaped higher and ran until 11am EST which marked the highs of the day.  The remainder of the day stayed in a 5 point range from the 11am highs as the market digested the strong reversal rally which has gained roughly 35 S&P points since Monday’s lows. In Economic Data, Headline PPI slightly missed expectations while Core PPI beat.  The Beige Book reiterated an overall positive outlook on the economy showing moderate growth.  Tomorrow traders will be most focused…

Early Gains quickly fade

Index & Sector performance 1/06/14 The Market: Pre-market optimism was met with early selling which took the S&P 500 from $137 on the open own to $1824 by midday.  The market bounced along crafting a bottom until roughly 2pm EST when the S&P managed to rally off the lows.  While it never made it back to the morning high, the S&P managed to rally back toward even on the day but then sold off in the last hour closing near the lows of the day. In economic news we saw Factory Orders and Services PMI come in as expected while…

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)…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -23.66 (-0.17%) to 13,511.23; S&P 500 +0.29 (+0.02%) to 1,472.63; NASDAQ +6.76 (+0.22%) to 3,117.54 Again we have another day where the markets were somewhat mixed but overall were overall boring.  Opening roughly 4 points lower the S&P rallied to close slightly positive.  Today we had the Fed Beige Book but obviously there was nothing ground breaking to the markets and now focus will switch to tomorrow’s jobs data.  Last week saw a slight uptick in claims to 371K and this week’s expectation is roughly the same at 369K. Boeing (BA) closed down over 3% today and the news does not look promising.  Following a…