March 19, 2024

Russell 2000 lags all other Indices

The Market: The Russell 2000 (IWM) was the only index on the WSC Scoreboard to finish lower on the session which was led by the Dow (DIA). Most of the indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished the session higher but HeathCare (XLV) was hit hard finishing –1.33% lower.  XLV remains only one of two sectors still up YTD but was hurt today by comments from Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who, after a privately held company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, announced a 5,000% price increase in its treatment for toxoplasmosis, called specialty drug prices “outrageous” and vowed to lay out a plan to…

$50 is the new $5….

The Market: As expected, volatility continues and $50 point swings are becoming as common as $5 point swings use to be.  We expect volatility to remain high but would not be surprised to see the magnitude of the swing start to temper. Today was important because after two straight days of gap ups that sold off into the close, today managed to hold and extend on the gap after an intraday pullback.  As we noted in Monday’s write-up,  the market is very short-term oversold and we would expect a bounce so today’s action is not surprising but we will be…

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…

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…

Low Volume Slow grind Higher

Index & Sector performance 2/17/15 The Market: Monday the markets were closed in observance of President’s Day.  As trading started back Monday evening, the futures traded lower but by the open Tuesday all the loses were recouped and after an early session consolidation the index pressed toward new closing highs.  Volume was light but this could be due to the winter storms around the nation.  All broad indices on the WSC Scoreboard are noticeably higher YTD with the Dow (DIA) lagging and the NASDAQ (QQQ) leading. In individual sectors it a little more mixed.  HealthCare (XLV) was the clear leading…