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…
Slow grind higher to start Holiday week
Index & Sector performance 12/22/14 The Market We expected even lighter volume today then we saw but it was still much lighter than the previous sessions. We would not be surprised to see the market continue to drift higher in a choppy manner throughout the holiday trading session and into the New Year. Tomorrow is the heaviest day for Economic data but we are not expecting fireworks. If we do see a pullback we would expect it to be a buying opportunity for short term traders. Reporting EPS 12/23/14 Pre-Market: Big name reporting tomorrow before the open…
Low vol drift higher
Index & Sector performance 12/3/14 The Market: Another low volume drift higher today which saw the Russell 2000 (IWM) lead and the NASDAQ (QQQ) lag even spending some time down on the session. In individual sectors, Consumer Staples (XLP) and Utilities (XLU) were the only two from the WSC Scoreboard to finish lower which Materials (XLB), Industrials (XLI), and Energy (XLE) finished up over 1%. One name helping materials have such a strong session was LyondellBasell (LYB) which has been down significantly since September but finished today up over 2% and was up more than 3% intraday. LYB is a…
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…
Russell outperforms in ugly session
Index & Sector performance 10/13/14 The Market: Another 1+% down day across the major indices on the WSC Scoreboard except for the Russell 2000 (IWM) which finished the session down only 0.42%. YTD the IWM is still the clear loser down 9.55% but today’s outperformance is interesting and something to watch. IWM’s underperformance starting earlier in the year was a warning so if it begins to outperform on a consistent basis going forward it should be noted. It does not feel like very long ago when the only down sector on the WSC Scoreboard Was Retail (XRT) but now we…
China growth concerns weigh on market
Index & Sector performance 9/22/14 The Market: The markets started the week off lower with many pointing to weak economic data out of China as well as comments from the Chinese finance minister stating there will be no major policy adjustments as the cause. Leading the way lower was the Russell 2000 (IWM) which remains the clear underperfomer for the year with the Dow (DIA) not too far behind but at least positive YTD. Multiple sectors closed the day down over 1% with Retail (XRT) leading the way finishing the session 1.59% lower. The XRT is now again over 1%…