Central bank news abroad drives headlines
Index & Sector performance 1/21/15 The Market: It was a relatively choppy session which saw the Dow (DIA), S&P 500 (SPY), and NASDAQ (QQQ) manage to finish higher while the Russell 2000 (IWM) closed lower. There were reports out of Europe that the ECB Executive Board proposed the purchase of EUR 50B/mo of bonds in a program that should last at least a year. There was more news from outside the U.S. with a surprise rate cut in Canada to counteract the sharply declining oil prices. Energy (XLE) led the charge today as all sectors on the WSC Scoreboard finished…
Yellen to the rescue
Index & Sector performance 12/17/14 The Market: Fueled by continued caution from the Fed in raising rates and a rebound in Oil prices, the broad indices roared higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing up over 3%. We noted in Monday’s comments that a gap lower Tuesday could be a great trading opportunity. For anyone that did not just day trade Tuesday’s gap down and are still holding, we would be using relatively tight stops to manage the position as there is still some concern lower levels could be seen before this decline is over. …
Back test of the 20 & down
Index & Sector performance 12/11/14 The Market: Strong optimism in early trading was attributed to better than expected Retail Sales numbers and Unemployment Claims along with the stabilization of oil but in midday trading, after the S&P 500 (SPY) had rallied back to re-test its 20 day SMA, oil started to slide and took the SPY with it. While the table above shows the SPY up on the session, as it currently stands those gains have been entirely erased in the aftermarket. We will be watching the overnight session to see if the S&P can stabilize, reverse, or if it…