The NightCap
The Market: Not a great start to 2016 for the Bulls but could have been much worse if not for a late end-of-day rally. So far in after-hours trading the market has continued higher but we will need to see if these gains hold over-night as well as into early trading tomorrow. No Sector was spared in today’s trading but the XLU was the clear relative outperformer finishing down only 0.21% followed by the worst performer for 2015, XLE, finishing down 0.41%. Tomorrow is a light Economic Data session with only Vehicle Sales being reported but later in the week…
Russell 2000 lags all other Indices
The Market: The Russell 2000 (IWM) was the only index on the WSC Scoreboard to finish lower on the session which was led by the Dow (DIA). Most of the indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished the session higher but HeathCare (XLV) was hit hard finishing –1.33% lower. XLV remains only one of two sectors still up YTD but was hurt today by comments from Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who, after a privately held company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, announced a 5,000% price increase in its treatment for toxoplasmosis, called specialty drug prices “outrageous” and vowed to lay out a plan to…
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…
S&P snaps 2 day losing streak
Index & Sector performance 2/10/15 The Market: The S&P 500 snapped a 2 day losing streak with a solid rally closing up over 1% on the session while the NASDAQ led the charge finishing up over 1.50% helped by Apple (AAPL) which closed at a fresh all time highs. The Russell 2000 (IWM) was the laggard but still managed to finish up 0.67%. All the sectors on the WSC Scoreboard were higher with the exception of Energy (XLE) which was taking its cue from Crude’s slide today after running into the 50 day SMA. Utilities (XLU) was the biggest gainer…
New Ebola scare helps market off highs
Index & Sector performance 10/23/14 The Market: The market was cruising along today until roughly 2pm ET when the market turned and then started quickly losing ground. Traders pointed to news that a doctor who had treated Ebola patients was rushed to the hospital in New York City. The sell off was not enough to give back all the days gains but we closed well off the intraday highs. Many sectors from the WSC Scoreboard participated in the rally with the biggest gainer the Industrials (XLI) finishing up over 2% helped greatly by Union Pacific Corporation (UNP) and 3M (MMM)…
Volatility the new norm
Index & Sector performance 10/16/14 The Market: A session like today may look uneventful when scanning the WSC Scoreboard and looking at the end of day changes but it masks the large intraday swings. An example is the S&P 500 (SPY) had a roughly 50 point range from high to low today (5 points in the SPY) which represents nearly 3% based on today’s opening price. Traders and investors need to be prepared for an environment with increased volatility which could last for an extended period. The Russell 2000 (IWM) remains the clear leader of late finishing up over 1%. …
Tech leads quiet up session
Index & Sector performance 9/10/14 The Market: Administrative note: we will be traveling the remainder of the week so there will be no updates after tonight. A nice bounce back in the markets after yesterday’s late day sell off. The leader in the broad indices was the NASDAQ (QQQ) keying, again, off Apple (AAPL) which finished the session up 3.07%. After being a relative outperformer yesterday in a bad tape, HeathCare (XLV) was the leader on the WSC Scoreboard today finishing the session up 0.70%. Utilities (XLU), yesterday’s biggest loser, saw more downside follow-through finishing the session 0.44% lower. Also…
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…
Market lower & Energy higher on week
Index & Sector performance 6/13/14 The Market: After logging a close outside of the Weekly (20, 2, -2) Bollinger Bands in the S&P 500 last week, the S&P 500 finished this week slightly lower. As we noted last week when it happened, this is a noteworthy event to track in our opinion because it has led to multi-week/month counter trend moves and remains one reason we continue to cautious on the broad market at this time. While most of the sectors from the WSC Scoreboard finished the trading session higher, it was again Energy (XLE) leading the charge closing up nearly…
Russell clear winner in mixed start to week
Index & Sector performance 6/9/14 The Market: All 4 major indices on the WSC Scoreboard started the week moving higher picking up where they left off last week including the small cap Russell 2000 which continued its recent outperformance. The quick start soon came to an end when each index made a top around noon ET which was never again revisited in today’s trading. While the Russell 2000 managed to finish respectfully higher for the day, the rest of the indices were flat to slightly down. We noted in Friday’s report last week that the S&P 500 closed outside of…