March 19, 2024

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…

HealthCare gains as market slides

Index & Sector performance 3/4/15 The Market: Ultimately, only a a small sell off in the markets after the S&P 500 rallied off the lows which coincided nicely with the upward sloping 20 day SMA.  Aggressive traders could certainly look to use today’s low to trade against. In Individual sectors, HealthCare (XLV) was the lone gainer finishing up 0.48% while the Industrials (XLI) led to the downside finishing 0.78% lower followed closely by Consumer Staples (XLP) and Financials (XLF) which finished down 0.70% and 0.61% respectively.  The biggest loser so far for 2015 is the Utilities (XLU) which is now…

Ceasefire helps stocks higher

Index & Sector performance 8/18/14 The Market: Strong strong session with the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM) closing up over 1% while the S&P 500 (SPY) and NASDAQ (QQQ) were not too far behind.  It appears the markets were able to build on Friday’s late day move off the lows being helped by optimism of a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire.  The IWM, which has spent the majority of the year in the red, is not only down 0.23% on the year. Multiple sectors posted strong performances including the Transportation (IYT), Retail (XRT), Industrials (XLI), and Financials (XLF) all up over 1%…

S&P 500 remains above the 50 DSMA

Index & Sector performance 4/7/14   The Market: Friday’s selling action continues on Monday as the S&P 500 index lost roughly 20 points.  Today’s lows in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) correlated nicely with previous levers of reaction and the 50 day SMA.  If this short term support is lost we could see the cash index next targeting $1800 and even $1650-1700.  In the meantime, aggressive traders could look to use today’s lows as a level to trade again on the long side for a bounce.   Reporting EPS 4/8/14 Pre-Market: Only one name of note reporting EPS tomorrow…

S&P finds support at 20 day SMA

Index & Sector performance 3/12/14 The Market: Overnight trading took the S&P 500 futures index down to our target region of $1857-50 with the low of the session printing $1853.75ES right near the open which correlated with the S&P 500 cash index touching the 20 day SMA.  From there we bounced and then spend the rest of the day consolidating in a flag which has broken to the upside in after hours but with not much gusto.  Until the index clears the $1870-72.50ES area we will consider the potential for more downside. Tomorrow is the heaviest day of the week…

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…

S&P Futures play MA pinball

Index & Sector performance 12/16/13 The Market: The made strong gains today after what looked like a horrible start to the week.  In overnight trading Sunday the S&P 500 dropped t0 $1754 (March 2014 emini contract) tagging the 50 day SMA and then built a rally off that support.  Surprisingly by the morning the futures had not only regained everything that was lost from Sunday evening’s open but also but in some gains.  Those who do not look at the futures may have never even known of the rough start.  The futures then rallied pre-market to the 20 day SMA…

S&P regains the 50

The Market: Today did not have anything to really speak of in terms of Economic data and the remainder of the week is not necessarily uneventful but also not one of the more data laden weeks we see.  Tuesday morning brings the NFIB Small Business Index, Thursday the Unemployment Claims as well as Fed Budget Balance and Import prices. and Friday rounds out the week with Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations as well as Retail Sales and PPI.  We track the data and the numbers posted in the Events Calendar. Story Stocks: Shareholders of Delta Air Lines (DAL) have had…