March 29, 2024

Utilities shine amidst sea of red

Index & Sector performance 10/1/14 The Market: All four of the main indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished well into negative territory with the NASDAQ (QQQ) leading the charge down 1.60%. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) that stood out closing 0.57% higher while the rest of the list was well into negative territory.  It was a broad rally across the XLU with many stocks participating but some noteworthy gainers were Exelon (EXC) up 1.41%, Southern (SO) up 1.01%, and NRG Energy (NRG) up 2.33%.  EXC has been a favorite of ours but we would also watch SO…

Merger denied, collaboration approved

Index & Sector performance 7/16/14 The Market: A small up session in the market was helped by solid earnings reports in the morning and a potential huge media merger between Time Warner (TWX) and Twenty First Century Fox (FOXA).  FOXA offered $85/share but were turned down by TWZ.  This sent shares of TWX screaming higher finishing the day up 17.07% as traders reevaluated TWX’s worth and also speculated on increased offers.  In other corporate news, Apple (AAPL) announced they will be teaming up with IBM (IBM) to provide business mobile solutions.  BlackBerry (BBRY) was negatively affected by the news finishing…

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. …

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…

Beige Book helps market off lows

Index & Sector performance 12/4/13 The Market: The S&P 500 started with a gap down which was quickly bought and rallied to slightly positive on the day but that rally topped at 11am EST and made its way back down to and through the earlier lows.  The market found a bottom prior to the Beige Book coming out but the release did not hurt the rally and the S&P 500 finished near flat on the day and above the 20 day SMA. In economic news we saw ADP Non-Farm Employment Change come in much better than expected posting a 215K…

S&P 500 narrowly escapes with a gain

Index & Sector performance 10/9/13 The Market: Rumors out of Washington have helped drive the indices of late as investors are looking for more information regarding the government shutdown as well as who may be replacing Ben Bernanke.  News today broke that Janet Yellen will be the next Federal Reserve chairperson taking the place of Ben Bernanke at the end of January 2014.  Initial opinions seemed to be that Yellen will continue on with a more dovish stance for the Fed. Today looked as though the market could not gain traction but at 11:30 am EST the market bottomed and…

Small gains break 5 day slide

Index & Sector performance 9/26/13 The Market: An early push higher on the S&P 500 was short lived and topped around 10 am EST falling all the way back to the open and even drifting into negative territory.  The market then bounced, failed and after retesting the days lows used the last hour to rally into the close. In economic news the Unemployment Claims data came in better than expected posting a 305K number when expectations were of 319K.  Unfortunately the remainder of the news was not as good with GDP coming in below expectations printing a 2.5% number when…