April 25, 2024

Tech and HealthCare EPS lead

Index & Sector performance 7/23/14 The Market: Today the stand out index was the NASDAQ (QQQ) which finished 0.64% higher with a lot of help from Apple (AAPL) which finished the day up 2.61% after reporting EPS yesterday after the close.  The S&P 500 (SPY) and Russell 2000 (IWM) were relatively flat, while the Dow (DIA) was the clear laggard and the only index to finish down on the session.  Weighing on the Dow was Boeing (BA) and Caterpillar (CAT) which finished down 2.34% and 1.53% respectively. In individual sectors it was HealthCare (XLV) which shined helped immensely by Intuitive…

Utilities big loser ahead of Jobs data

Index & Sector performance 7/2/14 The Market: The WSC Scoreboard was relatively flat to mixed with the Dow (DIA), S&P 500 (SPY), and NASDAQ (QQQ) closing slightly higher while the Russell 2000 (IWM) finished 0.35% lower. In individual sectors, the Utilities (XLU) stood out as the biggest loser finishing 1.99% lower on the day and appears vulnerable to even more downside action after being the leader so far in 2014.  Every stock in the XLU finished down on the day with some finishing down over 3% including Exelon (EXC), FirstEnergy (FE), and Entergy (ETR) down 3.11%, 3.50%, and 3.25% respectively. …

6 day win streak ends..new starts?

Index & Sector performance 4/23/14 The Market: Today’s session snapped a 6 day winning streak for the S&P 500 but the losses were small and maintained a very orderly structure throughout the day.  In after hours trading, the futures traded sharply higher helped by Apple’s (AAPL) earnings which beat EPS and revenue along with announcing a 7 for 1 stock split, increase in the buyback, and an 8% increase in the dividend. With tonight’s overnight action, the S&P 500 is now closing in on the all time highs .  Focus will continue to be on earnings especially with a very…

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…

Thank you to our Vets!

Index & Sector performance DATE The Market: Any given day stocks will make big moves but today with the bond market closed in observance of Veteran’s Day the broad markets seemed happy to consolidate.  Do not be surprised if today’s action is the calm before a strong directional move. Being that today was a Bank Holiday, there was no government economic data announced.  We did see the NFIB Small Business Index come in slightly below expectations posting a 91.6 when 93.5 was expected. Story Stocks: Merger Monday as ViroPharma (VPHM) agreed to be acquired by UK drugmaker  Shire (SHPG).  The…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +152.29 (+1.05%) to 14,719.46; S&P 500 +16.28 (+1.04%) to 1,578.78; NASDAQ +25.30 (+0.90%) to 2,835.37 Very strong day today in the market today with all major indices moving up roughly 1% or higher.  Today started with a gap higher and steadily climbed all day until 1pm EST when we saw a spike down.  We later realized the spike was caused by a false report by the AP, after their Twitter feed was hacked, that two bombs went off at the White House injuring the President.  Once the market realized the error they snapped back (whole process took a few minutes) but then still…

Week in Review

DJIA +149.21 (+1.08%) to 14,009.79; S&P 500 +15.06 (+1.01%) to 1,513.17; NASDAQ +36.97 (+1.18%) to 3,179.10 I have been looking and highlighting a pattern that seemed to be begging for higher prices in the short term and why the stance has been that while ultimately I would like to see a broader pullback/correction to provide the markets a better base to then press higher from again, in the short term it felt that every dip was an opportunity for a long trade.  Friday’s action now for me has brought the S&P 500 into the levels I was looking for and…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +72.49 (+0.52%) to 13,954.42; S&P 500 +7.66 (+0.51%) to 1,507.84; NASDAQ -0.64 (-0.02%) to 3,153.66 Early morning trading saw the S&P 500 futures down and sitting on the R1 pivot.  The pivot held and we started to rally until 10 am and the Consumer Confidence number came in cooler than expected.  The market started giving back earlier gains but quickly reverse and started to continue its climb finally closing up over 7 points but if you look at the futures, the S&P rallied from its lows around 7am EST to the close roughly 14 points. Stock of the day…

Daily Wrap

DJIA –14.05 (-0.10%) to 13,881.93; S&P 500 -2.78 (-0.18%) to 1,500.18; NASDAQ +4.59 (+0.15%) to 3,154.30 I had to blink twice and rub my eyes but it was true that the S&P 500 closed lower.  The Dow followed suit but AAPL finally having an up day helped the Nasdaq manage to eek out a small gain.  Now before we get crazy, this was a near 3 point down day on the S&P after 8 straight days of moving higher.  I have been looking for some consolidating which really hasn’t come to fruition.  Any pullbacks still look to be greater opportunities…