April 25, 2024

Short week, low vol, mixed results

Index & Sector performance 6/30/14 The Market: An overall mixed session saw the Russell 2000 and NASDAQ finish higher while the Dow and S&P 500 finished slightly lower.  Volume was down which will likely be a trend this shortened holiday trading week. In Individual sectors, the Utilities (XLU) led and earlier in the session the Transportation sector (IYT) was a relatively close second but a late day sell off put it just behind the Materials (XLB) and in-line with Retail (XRT).  The largest gainer in the Utilities was Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW) which finished up 2.41% and looks like…

Early pop leads to late day drop

Index & Sector performance 3/11/14 The Market: The  market rallied pre-market into the open, pulled back and went again but was unable to break through a pivot confluence resistance area.  The pullback into the noon EST period started to consolidate but the MACD was telling that more downside was likely.  As we reached the 2-2:30 pm EST time frame the S&P again started to weaken and broke to fresh lows for the day. We will be watching for $1860ES and then further $1850ES for support levels.  On the S&P500 cash index the 20 day SMA comes in around $1853. In…

S&P 500 closes at new highs

Index & Sector performance 10/17/13 The Market: The government put the debt ceiling behind the nation….until the beginning of next year.  The temporary resolution should take the issue off the front pages, for now.  The markets started with a gap lower which was quickly bought up and a strong rally continued to build off the 10/09 lows with the S&P 500 posting all time closing highs. In economic news Unemployment Claims came in at 358K vs consensus expectations of 357K so inline and then the Philly Fed Manufacturing index saw a small drop but was better than expected.  CNBC reported…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -32.41 (-0.21%) to 15,451.85;S&P 500 -6.24 (-0.37%) to 1,676.26;NASDAQ -8.99 (0.25%) to 3,598.50 A relatively boring down day as the highs for the day were marked in the opening minuted and then the S&P 500 to lose ground until it bottomed around 1:30 with some small positive divergences on the 5 minute MACD and then rallied until 2:30 pm EST where it again lost ground but held above those earlier lows.  The market spent the last 30-40 minutes rallying but never regaining the 2:30 pm highs. In economic news we had CPI data with the core meeting expectations of up 0.2%…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -265.86 (-1.79%) to 14,599.20; S&P 500 -36.49 (-2.30%) to 1,552.36; NASDAQ -59.01 (-2.07%) to 2,797.47 Today was a very active day in the markets but it is appropriate to take the time to stop and send well wishes and prayers to those involved in the Boston Marathon incident which as I write is still unfolding with not many details but clearly today people were hurt and my prayers go to them and their family. The market began with a small gap lower on weak Chinese data and overall global outlook concerns which continued to snowball into larger losses which were not just…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +27.57 (+0.20%) to 13,534.89; S&P 500 +1.66 (+0.11%) to 1,472.34; NASDAQ -6.72 (-0.22%) to 3,110.78 A gap down in the morning set the lows on the S&P 500 for the day as we then steadily rose the rest of the day making highs near the close.  Overall the data released today was mixed with Retail Sales beating very low expectations, PPI slightly lower than expected and January Empire State Manufacturing better than the previous month but well below expectations.  The Nasdaq was the only major down and with AAPL losing another 2.3% along with the $500’s it is not surprising. Moving higher today to the…