March 19, 2024

Huge intraday rally as Volatility continues

The Market: It is not uncommon when the S&P is down 25+ points intraday for their to be a rally but to see the index trade down over 30 points and then finish the session slightly up is surprising.  Even with the recent volatility, we remain within a range from, roughly, 2130 to 2050 in the S&P.  We are interested to see if the Bulls can build on today’s move off the low and gap higher tomorrow.  If not, we would not rule out the S&P revisiting today’s lows in the short-term.  Expect the volatility to continue. Leading sectors today…

Market finishes near lows

Index & Sector performance 5/26/15 The Market: A strong down day for the market which saw all the major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finish down over 1% on the session near the lows for the day.  The futures are up in the after hours session but they will have to prove that this is not just a relief bounce. Utilities (XLU), Consumer Discretionary (XLY), and Consumer Staples (XLP) were the relative out-performers finishing down 0.63%, 0.75%, and 0.79% respectively.  After reaching a high of $62.58 on 5/6/15, Crude Oil is back below $60/barrel after losing 3% in today’s…

Small Caps lag as market rallies

Index & Sector performance 3/16/15 The Market: A strong performance day as the S&P 500 (SPY), Dow (DIA), and NASDAQ (QQQ) finished up over 1% while the Russell 2000 (IWM) was the laggard finishing up 0.60%.  One of the positive noted on this recent decline in the broad markets was the resilience of the IWM which is close to a new all-time high.  Today could just be the other broad indices catching up to the already outperforming IWM but we cannot help but feel as though today was a perfect set-up for the IWM to lead all names higher and…

Sharp snap back rally — SPY up YTD

Index & Sector performance 3/12/15 The Market: Strong performance today with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge for the 2nd straight day followed by the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY).  Friday will be an interesting session as traders will have to decide how they want to end the week.  In the very short term the SPY looks stretched so we would consider using a gap up tomorrow morning as a (very) short-term selling opportunity. In individual sectors it was the Financials (XLF) which led the way finishing up 2.13% followed closely by Consumer Discretionary (XLY) which ended up…

Market closes highe but no conviction

Index & Sector performance 3/9/15 The Market: Overall it was a quiet session with not much news or Economic data.  The market was able to bounce back today after Friday’s strong sell-off led by the Dow (DIA) but volume was on the light side showing that market participants are not necessarily convinced the decline is over. In individual sectors Industrials (XLI) was the clear leader as names like Boeing (BA), 3M (MMM), and Caterpillar (CAT) put in strong sessions finishing up 1.06%, 1.22% and 0.94% respectively.  Energy (XLE) was the lone loser on the session finishing -0.72%.  One bright spot,…

Russell leads overall dull session

Index & Sector performance 11/24/14 The Market: An overall dull session with the S&P 500 (SPY) and Dow (DIA) barely moving while the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) led.  As is expected for the remainder of this shortened holiday week, volume was very light. In individual sectors it was Retail (XRT) posting another great session up 1.32%.  Today the index was greatly helped by Outerwall (OUTR), operators of Coinstar and Redbox, which finished up 12.32%.  Also chipping in was Best Buy (BBY) up 2.29% and Foot Locker (FL) up 3.45%.  After spending much of the year down, the XRT…

EPS helped shrug off bad overseas data

Index & Sector performance 11/20/14 The Market: It doesn’t look like the S&P 500 (SPY) had a strong session but considering the futures were down roughly 10 points pre-market reportedly due to weak data out of Europe and China, to finish up a few points is a strong showing.  Yesterday’s laggard was today’s leader as the Russell 2000 (IWM ) finished up over 1% clawing back most of yesterday’s losses and the Dow (DIA) was helped by Intel (INTC) which gained 4.66% after announcing a dividend hike and solid 2015 expected revenue growth. In individual sectors, Retail (XRT) led today…

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), …

EoD gains mask intraday swing

Index & Sector performance 9/17/14 The Market: Early in the session the markets were quiet as traders awaited the FOMC statement and speculated if the wording of the statement would be changed.  The answer was that not much changed and specifically the Fed continues to state that they will keep key interest rates near zero for a “considerable time”.  The initial reaction to the release was a sharp decline but buyers quickly stepped in and the S&P 500 recovered and then rallied to fresh highs on the day before finishing the session back where it started. The leading sector on…

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…