ECB helps U.S. Dollar & market higher
Index & Sector performance 11/6/14 The Market: Comments from ECB President Mario Draghi suggesting that the central bank is committed to stimulating the region’s economy helped send the S&P 500 (SPY) and the U.S. Dollar higher on the session. As would be expected the Euro/Dollar cross was under pressure finishing the U.S. trading session at new 2 year lows. A strong dollar is not a bad thing and increases global purchasing power of U.S. companies and individuals. However, as we saw recently with the Trade Balance, a strong dollar can hurt exports. Coupled with concerns over crude oil’s recent decline…
Down but much better than the start
Index & Sector performance 9/29/14 The Market: All 4 broad market indices closed lower however all also closed well off their lows of the session. The standout sector in today’s trading is clearly the Utilities (XLU) which finished up 0.65% and is currently in 4th place amongst the WSC Scoreboard sectors for largest YTD gain. The biggest laggard was Consumer Discretionary (XLY) followed by Materials (XLB). In Economic data, Pending Home Sales was a big disappointment coming in at -1% when -0.4% was expected while last months reading was adjusted slightly lower to 3.2% from 3.3%. Reporting EPS…
S&P takes back overnight losses plus
Index & Sector performance 5/5/14 The Market: The S&P futures moved lower in the Sunday overnight session attributed to weak economic data out of China as well continued unrest in Ukraine. The futures continued lower throughout early trading Monday but found a bottom right at the open on an initial spike lower to 1860.50ES which was quickly bought and the index started a march higher reaching 1880ES by 2:30 pm ET. The index spent the last hour consolidating the near 20 point intraday rally. If 1872ES holds in overnight trading it appears the index could look to make a move…