The NightCap
The Market: We expected to see a tight trading range until the FOMC statement but instead we saw buyers in advance of the statement as the S&P 500 (SPY) pressed higher. The the announcement came and there was a sharp sell-off but buyers came right back and all 4 major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished above the pre-FOMC announcement highs. As was expected by many, the FOMC left the Fed Fund Rates unchanged but, based on the comments, it appears a rate hike is on the table for December if the data warrants. We also saw the committee…
Markets finish up but look vulnerable
The Market: While it was not our expectation, we noted in Tuesday’s NightCap that, if the market extended higher, we would expect the downward sloping 20 day SMA to act as resistance. If you look at the SPY, this is exactly where the market stopped in early trading on Wednesday and then proceeded to pullback sharply. While all the major indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished higher in today’s trading, the market looks vulnerable to more downside in the coming days-weeks. Leading sectors in today’s trading was Transportation (IYT), Technology (XLK), and HealthCare (XLV) while the Utilities (XLU) and Retail…
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)…
Weak Data & Earnings help drive stocks lower
Index & Sector performance 1/27/15 The Market: While the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY) finished down over 1%, it was the NASDAQ (QQQ) which led the session to the downside finishing 2.59% lower. Microsoft (MSFT) was the biggest drain on the QQQ as it finished down 9.25% after a disappointing EPS report and even managed to pull down Apple (AAPL) which finished 3.5% lower on the session. Things may look a little better for the tech sector tomorrow as AAPL is up after hours after reporting EPS. The Russell 2000 (IWM) managed to be the relative winner finishing down…
Quiet start to the month
Index & Sector performance 11/3/14 The Market: The market started the day slightly higher building on last week’s extremely strong session but the market ran out of steam in the short term and the S&P 500 started pulling back in afternoon trading finishing flat on the session. All in all it was a low volume quiet session but the Bulls can point to the fact that they didn’t give ground after reaching new highs. We do not expect the remainder of the month to be as quiet as today and would plan for swings in both directions much like October…
Stong gains for shortened Op-Ex week
Index & Sector performance 4/16/14 The Market: From our recap Monday we noted that while the market still appeared vulnerable to the downside, we would also not be surprised to see oversold short term levels and the shortened holiday trading week provide a bounce. We did not at that time realize that we would get both the downside and the rally all in one day but that is in fact what happened on Tuesday and today was a follow-through on that action. Tomorrow is the last day of trading for the week since the market is closed Friday in observance…
Citi & Retail Sales aid rally
Index & Sector performance 4/14/14 The Market: The S&P 500 started lower in Sunday’s overnight session but quickly found a bottom and moved off the lows into early trading. Met with better than expected retail sales and an earnings beat by Citigroup (C), the rally continued until just after noon ET before topping out and starting a slide back toward the overnight lows. It appeared the market was yet again faced with a late day sell off but with one hour left in trading the S&P 500 found a bottom and snapped back toward the highs of the session….
A low volume flat session
Index & Sector performance 11/25/13 The Market: Monday’s trading started with some optimism but that was sold in early trading and the market started climbing back toward the highs of the day after a pullback. The rally efforts topped around 2:30 pm EST and the market then declined into the close but after the dust settled it was a flat day. Again volumes were on the light side. Today’s economic calendar was light with only Pending Home Sales on the docket and came in worse than expected posting a -0.6% when 2.2% was expected. Tomorrow we get more housing data…
Low volume day follows the trend
Index & Sector performance 11/22/13 The Market: The market made solid gains trending higher all day to close over $1800 in the S&P 500. If there was anything concerning about today’s rally, it was the volume which seemed very light but seeing a market move in the direction of the trend on low volume days is not uncommon. There was not much on the Economic data front today besides some fed speak but Thursday the 21st was big. Unemployment Claims came in better than expected posting 10K below (323K vs 333K) expectations while the previous week was adjusted slightly higher…