March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: The market continues to grind higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) trying to play catch-up of late. Energy (XLE) led all sectors in today’s trading, again, and has been one of the hottest sectors of late although still down nearly -10% YTD. A relatively big data week with ISM Monday, Fed speak & ADP tomorrow, Unemployment Claims Thursday, and official Jobs data on Friday.  Traders concerned about the Fed and if we will see a December rate hike should be paying attention to this week’s data.       Reported EPS 11/3/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS…

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…

QQQ & IWM reach new highs

Index & Sector performance 2/26/15 The Market: More churn today in the markets but again the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) showed more strength than the S&P 500 (SPY) with the QQQ and IWM reaching new 52-week closing highs on the session. Crude oil lost over 5% today which helped send the Energy (XLE) sector 1.88% lower.  We noted in our 2/18/15 nightly recap when the XLE was trading above $81 that we would look for a pullback toward $78 as a buying opportunity.  Closing today at $79.35, we would ideally like to see lower levels before dipping into…

Global economic growth concerns weigh on market

Index & Sector performance 11/4/14 The Market: Today’s session ultimately finished narrowly lower with the Dow (DIA) managing to close ever so slightly higher.  Midday the damage was worse as traders pointed to the European Commissions cutting growth and inflation forecasts but after the European exchanges closed the U.S. found a bottom and drifted higher into the close. In individual sectors it was again Energy (XLE) which led the way lower finishing down 2.06% as crude oil traded as low as $75.84/ barrel after Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting prices on oil exports to the U.S.  Traders are cautious…

News & EPS will dominate week

Index & Sector performance 10/20/14 The Market: This is a very light Economic data week but don’t worry.  Earnings will more than make up for it with a Packed schedule all the way through to Friday. All the indices on the WSC Scoreboard were nicely higher but the Dow (DIA) was the clear laggard after IBM (IBM) lost over 7% due to a disappointing Q3 report which missed on revenues and EPS.  The company also announced that they would no longer be able to meet its goal of $20/share in operating EPS by 2015. Solid results across all the sectors…

Fed open to scale back causes pullback

Index & Sector performance 11/20/13 The Market: Initial optimism on better than expected economic data pre-market saw early selling as the S&P pulled off the highs of the day in the first hour of trading and then the market meandered waiting for the Fed minutes to be released.  After the 2pm EST announcement the market began selling off as the Fed showed they are prepared to scale back on the rate of asset purchases.  The S&P 500 was able to use late trading to close a few points off the lows of the day. In economic data, Core CPI came…

Daily Wrap

The markets started today with another gap down and twice tried to rally and failed.  he first rally started roughly around noon and continued until the Fed minutes were announced which then sent the S&P tumbling quickly to new lows for the day but that dip was bought and in a volatile hour was not only higher but positive on the day.  As soon as the gains were had they were lost and the final hour of trading again sent shares lower closing above but near the lows of the day. In economic date we had existing home sales come…

Week in Review

DJIA -0.08 (0.00%) to 14,865.06; S&P 500 -4.52 (-0.28%) to 1,588.85; NASDAQ -2.59 (-0.09%) to 2,856.48 Friday started with a small gap down that wasn’t greeted with the usual snap up buying and this helped lay the ground work for an early morning swoon taking the S&P 500 down over 10 points from Thursday’s close.  Right around 11am EST the S&P bottomed and for the remainder of the day was able to grind higher leaving a relatively small loss for the day (the Dow nearly closed positive).  This type of action is not uncommon at stretched levels as well as when there is…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +59.98 (+0.41%) to 14,673.46; S&P 500 +5.54 (+0.35%) to 1,568.61; NASDAQ +18.54 (+0.67%) to 2,804.67 The markets opened today slightly higher and consolidating until just after noon EST when the market started to breakout and move strongly higher.  This rally lasted until around 3pm EST when the market topped and then started to sell of into the close. Stock of the day, or at least driving the headlines, was Herbalife (HLF) whose shares were halted which sparked discussion about Icahn and Ackman and what might be going on with the shares.  Ultimately the news was KPMG resigned as auditor amidst allegations of insider trading by one of…

Week in Review

DJIA +35.17 (+0.25%) to 14,089.66; S&P 500 +3.52 (+0.23%) to 1,518.20; NASDAQ +9.55 (+0.30%) to 3,169.74 Friday was an interesting day as we went into the weekend before Sequester (sounds like an SAT word right?) and rumors were abound which helped drive the markets one way or the other.  We did finally close with a small gain on the day which continued the markets impressive move off Wednesday’s lows right near the 50 Day SMA’s.  We had what I thought was mixed economic data through-out the day which over overall possibly canceled itself out but also continues to show the shaky ground we stand on.  That isn’t…