March 19, 2024

Stocks recover after early slide

Index & Sector performance 3/26/15 The Market: Today’s session started of much worse than it ended with the futures losing ground in the overnight and early session causing a gap down which continued lower in early trading but manged to recover and stage a midday rally which even saw all 4 broad indices spend time up on the day.  In global news, traders were focused on Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen which helped Crude Oil traded over $51 u more than 3% on the session. We would not be signaling that the coast is clear yet and see risk in…

Greece rules headlines in slow session

Index & Sector performance 2/9/15 The Market: Losses across the WSC Scoreboard with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the way followed by the Dow (DIA), which was affected by McDonald’s (MCD) finishing down 1.35% after reporting a drop in January sales of 1.8%.  Otherwise traders seem focused on the continued fighting between Greece and the Eurozone. Energy was the only sector on the WSC Scoreboard to finish higher but it wasn’t by much and was helped by Oil continuing its recovery.  Today’s biggest laggard was HeathCare (XLV) which finished down 1.18% followed by Transportation (IYT) down 0.99% and Utilities (XLU)…

Overnight loses quicky negated

Index & Sector performance 10/30/14 The Market: In the overnight session the S&P 500 futures lost roughly 20 points and it appeared to be signaling for a rough Thursday but then recouped nearly all the loses by the open and managed to rally for the majority of the day.  All 4 indices from the WSC Scoreboard finished higher with the Dow (DIA) leading the charge helped immensely by Visa (V) which finished the session up 10.24% after reporting better than expected EPS and a new $5B Share Repurchase program yesterday after the close. In Individual sectors the clear standout was…

Argentina default rattles global markets

Index & Sector performance 7/31/14 The Market: A sea of red today on the WSC Scoreboard with all 4 major indices closing strongly lower led by the Russell 2000 (IWM).  Major media outlets pointed to weakness overnight in International markets caused by Argentina’s default. Looking at the technicals, the S&P 500 (SPY) and the Dow (DIA) both clearly lost their 50 day moving averages on a closing basis and did so on an increase in volume.  The NASDAQ (QQQ), which has been this year’s strongest performer, is still a few percent above the 50’s while the Russell 2000 (IWM) has…

Slow grind higher continues

Index & Sector performance 12/9/13 The Market: Another slow grinding day with a bias higher.  It is yet to be seen if this is a consolidation for a next leg higher or exhaustion with a leg lower to come.  To catch the most amount of people off guard the market could look to pop higher first to finish and then start a strong quick decline. There was no economic data today but there was Fed speak from FOMC member Bullard.  Bullard was a QE3 supporter and noted his stance that any Fed action is data dependent.  The increase in jobs…

Bulls fight back after a gap down

Index & Sector performance 11/13/13 The Market: Losses after a gap down on the open were completely recouped in the first hour of trading.  After a brief consolidation, the S&P 500 moved strongly higher into the close posting a 14 point up day but from trough to peak the moved covered 22 points. In economic data the Federal Budget Balance came in better than expected with a -91.6B vs expectations of -104.3B.  Tomorrow there is more economic data including the usual Unemployment Claims which we have an estimate of 331K. Another noteworthy even is that Janet Yellen testifies tomorrow at…

Today the quiet before the storm?

Index & Sector performance 10/31/13 The Market: Second straight down day for the S&P 500.  The day was slightly more active than the closing prices might suggest as a very early up open was quickly sold down to the 1756 levels where the market bottomed around 10:30am EST and then rallied to 1768 by 2:30 pm EST.  What took almost all day to gain was then lost in that last hour of trading with the S&P closing back near the earlier lows for the day at 1756.  What needs to be seen is if this relatively quiet day is the…

AA kicks off a new earnings season…tomorrow

Index & Sector performance 10/07/13 The Market: The markets started down strong but found early support and rallied into midday but couldn’t hold and press toward Friday’s close and instead sold off during the last hour of trading closing near the early morning slows but just slightly above. Hard to believe we are kicking off another earnings season but Alcoa (AA) will start tings off again Wednesday 10/8/13 after the close.  While AA no longer has the significance it once did, it still is known for ushering in the season and many larger more impactful names will then be reporting….