March 19, 2024

China & Buffett support stong session

The Market: A strong overnight session in China which was triggered by changes to the latest monetary policy report and also on reports that China will overhaul state-owned enterprises helped get the market started and then Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) helped fan the fire by first purchasing Precision Cast Part (PCP) for $235/share in cash and then during an interview noted that he likes IBM (IBM) and answered a question about if he is buying that people should check the SEC filings in the coming days.  The Dow (DIA) led today’s rally. Energy (XLE) was the biggest…

Weak ADP data helps market gap

The Market: The market gapped and continued higher for the first hour of trading which the news attributed to a weak ADP number which could keep the Fed from raising interest rates anytime soon.  After the first hour of trading the major indices began to lose ground and, while they all finished up on the day, they were all also well off their highs. Leading on the WSC Scoreboard was Retail (XRT) which was the only sector to finish up by over 1% followed closely by Technology (XLK) which closed up 0.97%.  The only two losing sectors on the day…

Major Market Indices down near or over 2%!

  The Market: We warned in last week’s update that we viewed the pattern in the market as one that warranted caution.  In the short term we view the market as very oversold and due for a bounce.  Ideally we would like to see a failed rally in the Futures overnight that results in a gap down in the cash index which provides an opportunity to get long in early trading.  It is also worth noting that the SPY closed right at the 200 day SMA & EMA which should act as support — even if only short term. Looking…

Sharp snap back rally — SPY up YTD

Index & Sector performance 3/12/15 The Market: Strong performance today with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge for the 2nd straight day followed by the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY).  Friday will be an interesting session as traders will have to decide how they want to end the week.  In the very short term the SPY looks stretched so we would consider using a gap up tomorrow morning as a (very) short-term selling opportunity. In individual sectors it was the Financials (XLF) which led the way finishing up 2.13% followed closely by Consumer Discretionary (XLY) which ended up…

QQQ & IWM reach new highs

Index & Sector performance 2/26/15 The Market: More churn today in the markets but again the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) showed more strength than the S&P 500 (SPY) with the QQQ and IWM reaching new 52-week closing highs on the session. Crude oil lost over 5% today which helped send the Energy (XLE) sector 1.88% lower.  We noted in our 2/18/15 nightly recap when the XLE was trading above $81 that we would look for a pullback toward $78 as a buying opportunity.  Closing today at $79.35, we would ideally like to see lower levels before dipping into…

Drop to set-up end-of-year rally?

Index & Sector performance 12/30/14 The Market: Without any catalysts, the market drifted slightly lower today but we would be very careful on the short side as this could just be a set-up to finish out the week strong.  In addition, we would be looking at a gap down tomorrow as a potential short term trading opportunity on the long side. While all sectors finished lower, Utilities (XLU) led the way closing down over 2%. Tomorrow is the biggest data day of the week with Unemployment Claims the headline.   Analyst Comments:

Heartfelt thank you to our Vets!!!

Index & Sector performance 11/11/14 The Market: A Heartfelt thank you goes out to all of the past, present, and future service men and women who work each day to keep us safe.  Without you, what we have and unfortunately often take for granted each and every day would not exist.  Almost zeros across the board as it was a relatively uneventful trading session.  Maybe the clearest example of how uneventful is that the entire trading day’s range on the S&P 500 was 6 points and volume was again light. As noted last night, we still view the short term…