March 28, 2024

Daily Wrap

DJIA -8.68 (-0.06%) to 15,291.66;S&P 500 +0.30 (+0.02%) to 1,652.62;NASDAQ +16.50 (+0.47%) to 3,520.76 If you closed down your computer and went away after the close, you missed an after market that was more exciting than the entire trading day!  I have the benefit of writing this after the close where we see the S&P 500 futures up nicely after the close likely tied to a Q&A session held by Ben Bernanke Chairman of the Federal Reserve (if you didn’t know).  I will need more time to read through but I also didn’t think there was too much new information. …

Daily Wrap

DJIA +75.65 (+0.50%) to 15,300.34;S&P 500 +11.86 (+0.72%) to 1,652.32;NASDAQ +19.43 (+0.56%) to 3,504.26 Some don’t think it is the right way to start the season but Alcoa ( AA ) still is known for kicking off earnings and this much maligned stock and company.  AA reported EPS that beat analysts expectations (7c vs 6c) on just slightly lower than expected revenue ($5.8B vs $5.83B).  After reporting last night, AA closed almost exactly flat today but considering AA recently bounced I would say it held the recent move.  Is the bottom in AA in?  It could be.  Everyone that has thought that…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -12.67 (-0.08%) to 15,294.50; S&P 500 -4.84 (-0.29%) to 1,650.51; NASDAQ -7.68 (-0.26%) to 2,991.45 A much more exciting day today than the markets might otherwise look if you simply check the closing prices.  The market traded lower overnight as the Nikkei lost roughly 7%.  Our markets used the first 30 minutes or so of trading to find the bottom and then rallied with all 3 major indices (and even the Russell 2000) spending time up on the day.  The march to even ultimately acted as resistance and the S&P pulled back during the last hour to finish with small losses.  On…

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 +62.90 (+0.42%) to 14,865.14; S&P 500 +5.64 (+0.36%) to 1,593.37; NASDAQ -0.14 (0.00%) to 2,859.07 A brief trip down for the day eventually became a moderate up day for the S&P 500 after having been on a tear.  Helping the cause was an Unemployment claims number which came in much better than expected at 346K when I had expectations around 362K.  While the highs of the day were made before noon EST, the remainder of the day’s action in the S&P seemed only like a consolidation and factoring in the strength of the recent rally and being at all time highs, I…

Week in Review

DJIA -40.86 (-0.28%) to 14,565.25; S&P 500 -6.70 (-0.43%) to 1,553.28; NASDAQ -21.12 (-0.65%) to 3,203.86 The March unemployment data came in well below expectations (88K vs 198K expectations) which send the market gaping lower and down over 1% in early trading.  This took the S&P 500 toward the 50 day SMA and into a range of support which is used to rally off the lows ultimately only closing down slightly for the day. Big loser on the day was F5 Networks (FFIV) which lose over 19% after announcing Q2 earnings that were below analyst expectations.  The company blamed the lower results on decreasing telecom and…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +89.16 (+0.61%) to 14,662.01; S&P 500 +8.08 (+0.52%) to 1,570.25; NASDAQ +15.69 (+0.48%) to 3,254.86 Yesterday seemed almost too easy with the markets starting higher and then selling off on what I noted was light volume but decisively negative.  The new quarter had started and brought along with it a sell off.  There was that pesky end of day rally though.  That one that happened toward the very end of the day and left open the idea that the market could build off that push and that is what then happened today.  The markets gaped higher and never dipped back into negative territory. …

Week in Review

DJIA +119.95 (+0.86%) to 13,981.76; S&P 500 +13.18 (+0.88%) to 1,519.79; NASDAQ +30.33 (+0.97%) I won’t spend too much time on Friday’s action but the futures seemed to have a positive tone even in early trading which I believe was build up off trading into support and holding around the 1500 level in the S&P 500.  To further assist in the cause we had positive earnings reports out of two majors which I will list below.  Otherwise today felt more as though we were snapping back some of the previous losses in more of a pure technical move. Two Dow names making news with…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -46.92 (-0.34%) to 13,880.62; S&P 500 -9.53 (-0.63%) to 1,502.42; NASDAQ -32.92 (-1.04%) to 3,131.49 Today we had a slew of economic data which included a Jobless Claims number that came in higher than consensus estimates (362K vs 353K).  As always you can visit the Event’s Calendar for the release of economic data, scheduled meetings and other news that could move the market.  The markets were unable to build much positive momentum after yesterday’s decline and we marked a second straight day of declines.  The Dow saw the least damage but that was somewhat deceiving due to an end of day rally by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) into their earnings…

Week in Review

DJIA  -35.71 (-0.27%) to 13,135.01;  S&P 500  -5.87 (-0.41%) to 1,413.58; NASDAQ  -20.83 (-0.70%) to 2,971.33; Friday’s action was red across the board and it was never in doubt.  The downside was lead by the tech and inside tech the leader down was Apple Computers (AAPL) and names inside the AAPL universe.  We had a small amount of economic data today but nothing that would have been able to or did change the course.  The bias was clearly to go home today flat or short but not long as we saw the selling pick up after 2pm as traders have…