March 28, 2024

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…

S&P on 5 day win streak

Index & Sector performance 4/21/14   The Market: The S&P 500 has been on an impressive  5 day winning streak but much like the “V” bottom we say back in February this year, this rally is coming on lower than average volume with today being by far the lowest in the S&P 500 sector ETF “SPY”. We stated in our 4/14 write-up that we would not be surprised to see the market used short term oversold levels and the shortened holiday Op-Ex week to rally.  The question now is as traders get back to the desk in both the U.S….

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…

All quiet before jobs data

Index & Sector performance 10/21/13 The Market: Not too much to report as it was a quiet down day in the S&P 500 and Dow with the Nasdaq making small gains much on the back of a strong performance from Apple (AAPL) closing up nearly 2.5% on the day. In economic news we had Existing Home Sales with came in light posting a 5.29M when 5.31M was expected.  Tomorrow will be a much bigger day as we get the jobs report that was delayed due to the government shutdown.  Current forecast is for 182K and Unemployment rate of 7.3% Story…

Week in Review

DJIA +10.37 (+0.07%) to 14,547.51; S&P 500 +13.64 (+0.88%) to 1,555.25; NASDAQ +38.51 (+1.40%) to 2,780.46 In Thursday night’s recap I noted that the bears were not yet in total control but the bulls needed to get the index moving or there could be a further imminent drop.  Friday was able to firm up and take back some control but you wouldn’t know it by watching the Dow which only pressed into positive territory within the last hour of trading.  The broader indices were much stronger. Weighing on the Dow were three big names which reported EPS that were not met with great…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -81.45 (-0.56%) to 14,537.14; S&P 500 -10.40 (-0.67%) to 1,541.61; NASDAQ -40.03 (-1.44%) to 2,741.95 Today was another strong down day but had more back and forth than previous sessions.  Stocks started the day slightly positive following up on an Unemployment claims number that wasn’t necessarily bullish but also and maybe more importantly wasn’t bearish and came in relatively inline with estimates.  Those early gains gave way and at the lows the S&P 500 cash index was down roughly 16 points.  Overall the action was not like previous sessions and it did feel as though the market is trying to set-up for…

Week in Review

DJIA +67.58 (+0.47%) to 14,397.07; S&P 500 +6.92 (+0.45%) to 1,551.18; NASDAQ +12.28 (+0.38%) to 3,244.37 This week was all about Jobs data and the build up to a number that didn’t disappointing posting a 236K non-farm employment change when consensus expectations were around 158K.  This also took the Unemployment rate down to 7.7% from 7.9%.  Cue to the cynicism regarding the number and the way it is calculated and it is not that I disagree but the fact also is that the method of calculation is not changed month to month so there is a frame of reference where better is better…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -35.79 (-0.26%) to 13,982.91; S&P 500 +0.90 (+0.06%) to 1,520.33; NASDAQ +10.39 (+0.33%) to 3,196.88 The markets continued to climb what seems to be the wall of worry and I heard many speculating that something the President might say would affect the current trend but yet again another perceived milestone is passed and we continue higher yet again.  The Nasdaq finally participated in the rally as Apple Computers (AAPL) while down for the day was only slightly so and didn’t pull down the broad index much but it was the Dow that didn’t participate and that was due to McDonald’s (MCD) which closed down over…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +62.51 (+0.46%) to 13,712.21; S&P 500 +6.58 (+0.44%) to 1,492.56; NASDAQ +8.47 (+0.27%) to 3,143.18 Today was an interesting day.  4 Dow names reported before the bell but due t their mixed nature it didn’t seem to help provide any conviction either way so the market erred on the being down side.  After wavering for the early part of the day the S&P finally pressed into positive territory around lunch and then started a trek higher closing up over 6 points for the day.  In economic news, US existing home sales came in below estimates for December and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing survey looked to…

Week in Review

DJIA  -35.71 (-0.27%) to 13,135.01;  S&P 500  -5.87 (-0.41%) to 1,413.58; NASDAQ  -20.83 (-0.70%) to 2,971.33; Friday’s action was red across the board and it was never in doubt.  The downside was lead by the tech and inside tech the leader down was Apple Computers (AAPL) and names inside the AAPL universe.  We had a small amount of economic data today but nothing that would have been able to or did change the course.  The bias was clearly to go home today flat or short but not long as we saw the selling pick up after 2pm as traders have…