April 25, 2024

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. …

Intraday swing leave only small gains

Index & Sector performance 4/28/14 The Market: After moving slightly higher in the overnight and early trading, the S&P 500 quickly dropped in the midday session before finding a bottom around 1:30 pm ET.  While the S&P fell a few points short of making it back to the earlier intraday highs, it did manage to post a small gain on the day.   The Dow led the major indices helped by a 4.2% gain from Pfizer (PFE) while the Russell 2000 closed slightly down on the day. Many big name stocks in the news including the aforementioned Pfizer (PFE) who…

A flat day across all the major indices

Index & Sector performance 10/28/13 The Market: A fairly lack luster day as the broad indexes chopped around with the S&P and Nasdaq closing positive while the Dow and Russell lagged.  Early optimism in the S&P was quickly sold in early trading but the market was able to hold and press to new highs until a late day sell off which sent the S&P back toward unchanged for the day. In economic data we saw Capacity Utilization Rate and Industrial Production month over month beat expectations while pending home sales greatly disappointed posting a -5.6%.  Tomorrow will be a much…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -36.86 (-0.24%) to 15,521.97;S&P 500 -6.32 (-0.37%) to 1,685.33;NASDAQ -14.02 (-0.39%) to 3,599.14 Today the S&P 500 started with a small gap down that initially tried to rally back to Friday’s close but couldn’t hold and slipped lower until finding a bottom just before noon EST.  After gaining some traction the S&P rallied until roughly 2:30 EST before falling again in the last hour of trading but did not make new lows for the day. There was a notable merger in today’s news and while the stocks didn’t move very much, due to the size of the companies it was note worthy…

Week in Review

DJIA +35.87 (+0.24%) to 15,118.49; S&P 500 +7.03 (+0.43%) to 1,633.70; NASDAQ +19.90 (+0.67%) to 2,981.02 Friday was a very choppy trading session which sent the index bouncing around and when it looked like it could possible be setting up for a late day sell-off ended up instead closing near highs for the day.  In economic news the calendar was light but had a great deal of Fed speak throughout the day including Chairman Bernanke right near the open. The Dell (DELL) going private saga continued where two large DELL investors, Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, advised that they will not be voting for Michael…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +21.05 (+0.14%) to 14,839.80; S&P 500 +3.96 (+0.25%) to 1,597.57; NASDAQ +20.49 (+0.71%) to 2,887.44 Today saw some jockeying for position by the indices as they started the day moving lower and then recovered to close slightly up for the session.  In economic news the Case/Shiller index rose 1.2% from the previous month’s reading and topped estimates with a 9.3% vs 9.1% estimate.  Chicago PMI on the other hand fell short of estimates recording a 49 vs 52.5 estimate.  Consumer confidence came in mainly inline with a 68.1 vs 68.4 estimate. Before the open, Pfizer (PFE) reported earnings which missed on both revenues ($13.5B vs $14B) and EPS (54c…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +106.20 (+0.72%) to 14,818.75; S&P 500 +11.37 (+0.72%) to 1,593.61; NASDAQ +26.40 (+0.93%) to 2,866.95 The market continues its recovery from the recent dip now not also challenging recent highs but making all time highs (closing and intraday).  The trend remains strongly in-tact with the SPY up over 12.36% YTD and maybe more astoundingly 16.99% over a rolling 12 month period. In economic news today we saw Personal Spending meet forecasts with a 0.2% increase but Personal Income not only missed forecasts of a 0.4% gain but actually ticked down 0.2%.  Lastly, Pending Home sales beat expectations with a 1.5% increase over last month when…

Week in Review

DJIA +149.21 (+1.08%) to 14,009.79; S&P 500 +15.06 (+1.01%) to 1,513.17; NASDAQ +36.97 (+1.18%) to 3,179.10 I have been looking and highlighting a pattern that seemed to be begging for higher prices in the short term and why the stance has been that while ultimately I would like to see a broader pullback/correction to provide the markets a better base to then press higher from again, in the short term it felt that every dip was an opportunity for a long trade.  Friday’s action now for me has brought the S&P 500 into the levels I was looking for and…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +72.49 (+0.52%) to 13,954.42; S&P 500 +7.66 (+0.51%) to 1,507.84; NASDAQ -0.64 (-0.02%) to 3,153.66 Early morning trading saw the S&P 500 futures down and sitting on the R1 pivot.  The pivot held and we started to rally until 10 am and the Consumer Confidence number came in cooler than expected.  The market started giving back earlier gains but quickly reverse and started to continue its climb finally closing up over 7 points but if you look at the futures, the S&P rallied from its lows around 7am EST to the close roughly 14 points. Stock of the day…

Daily Wrap

DJIA –14.05 (-0.10%) to 13,881.93; S&P 500 -2.78 (-0.18%) to 1,500.18; NASDAQ +4.59 (+0.15%) to 3,154.30 I had to blink twice and rub my eyes but it was true that the S&P 500 closed lower.  The Dow followed suit but AAPL finally having an up day helped the Nasdaq manage to eek out a small gain.  Now before we get crazy, this was a near 3 point down day on the S&P after 8 straight days of moving higher.  I have been looking for some consolidating which really hasn’t come to fruition.  Any pullbacks still look to be greater opportunities…