ECB helps U.S. Dollar & market higher
Index & Sector performance 11/6/14 The Market: Comments from ECB President Mario Draghi suggesting that the central bank is committed to stimulating the region’s economy helped send the S&P 500 (SPY) and the U.S. Dollar higher on the session. As would be expected the Euro/Dollar cross was under pressure finishing the U.S. trading session at new 2 year lows. A strong dollar is not a bad thing and increases global purchasing power of U.S. companies and individuals. However, as we saw recently with the Trade Balance, a strong dollar can hurt exports. Coupled with concerns over crude oil’s recent decline…
China growth concerns weigh on market
Index & Sector performance 9/22/14 The Market: The markets started the week off lower with many pointing to weak economic data out of China as well as comments from the Chinese finance minister stating there will be no major policy adjustments as the cause. Leading the way lower was the Russell 2000 (IWM) which remains the clear underperfomer for the year with the Dow (DIA) not too far behind but at least positive YTD. Multiple sectors closed the day down over 1% with Retail (XRT) leading the way finishing the session 1.59% lower. The XRT is now again over 1%…
S&P 500 pullback coming soon?
Index & Sector performance 6/6/14 The Market: Yet again the Russell 2000 led in today’s trading as all 4 broad indices from the WSC Scoreboard closed higher. Also after spending much of 2014 in the red, the Russell 2000 (IWM) is now ever so slightly higher on the year. Healthcare (XLV) and Utilities (XLU) were the lone laggards in the individual sectors while Energy (XLE), Industrials (XLI), and Transportation (IYT) were the notable leaders. Taking a peak further at the Industrials, which were the overall leader, we see Fluor (FLR) posted a 2.77% gain today following up on a strong…
Tech stocks lead sell-off
Index & Sector performance 5/6/14 The Market: Last night we noted 1872ES as a key level to watch. If it held as overnight support then the index could look to target Friday’s 1886ES highs but if lost then we could see Monday’s lows of 1860.50ES tested and then 1850ES. In overnight trading the S&P was only able to reach 1881.50ES falling short of Friday’s highs and by the open the futures were sitting at our key 1872ES level. After some initial jostling around the 1872ES level, the index started to roll over in midday trading reaching as low as…
Increased chatter of a 10+% decline
Index & Sector performance 4/3/14 The Market: A pre-market pop in the S&P 500 emini sent the index as high at 1887.50ES but that move was short lived and the index was trading lower by the open and continued lower throughout the early and midday trading sessions. It wasn’t until the afternoon trading when the S&P bottomed and marched higher into the close. The emini has continued higher in after hours trading closing in on the pre-market highs essentially negating the entire move lower in today’s session. It is worth noting that the ECB left rates unchanged and noted they…
Shhh, Jobs data tomorrow
The Market: Not much in the way of action today as early gains met resistance in the previously highlighted areas around 1660-1663 which coincided with the 20 & 50 day SMA’s respectively. Utilities again were the under performer of the tracked sectors and retail sector leading on the upside with Sears (SHLD) and JC Penny (JCP) putting in strong showing with gains of 6.27% and 5.33%. Doesn’t it feel like all JCP needed was some big investor to bail to bottom? Today had a great deal of economic data including ISM Non-Man PMI which came in better than expected (as…
Daily Wrap
DJIA +21.05 (+0.14%) to 14,839.80; S&P 500 +3.96 (+0.25%) to 1,597.57; NASDAQ +20.49 (+0.71%) to 2,887.44 Today saw some jockeying for position by the indices as they started the day moving lower and then recovered to close slightly up for the session. In economic news the Case/Shiller index rose 1.2% from the previous month’s reading and topped estimates with a 9.3% vs 9.1% estimate. Chicago PMI on the other hand fell short of estimates recording a 49 vs 52.5 estimate. Consumer confidence came in mainly inline with a 68.1 vs 68.4 estimate. Before the open, Pfizer (PFE) reported earnings which missed on both revenues ($13.5B vs $14B) and EPS (54c…
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. …