March 19, 2024

Few market participants on Yom Kippur

The Market: Overall it was a low volume range bound trading session as volume was light and many market participants were out in observance of Yom Kippur. Crude oil traded sharply lower today which hurt the XLE but the biggest loser on the WSC Scoreboard was Materials (XLB) which finished down -2.13%.  The biggest losers in the XLB included CF Industries (CF), Mosaic (MOS), and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) closing down -6.58%, -5.67%, and -5.64% respectively but it is also worth noting that 4 of the top 5 weighted stocks in the XLB were down over 2% on the session.  You can…

Yellen to the rescue

Index & Sector performance 12/17/14 The Market: Fueled by continued caution from the Fed in raising rates and a rebound in Oil prices, the broad indices roared higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing up over 3%. We noted in Monday’s comments that a gap lower Tuesday could be a great trading opportunity.  For anyone that did not just day trade Tuesday’s gap down and are still holding, we would be using relatively tight stops to manage the position as there is still some concern lower levels could be seen before this decline is over.    …

Ben to the rescue!

Index & Sector performance 9/18/13 The Market: The clock struck 2pm EST and it is time for Big Ben and the Fed to put all the recent speculation, at least for now, to rest.  Neither changes to the current $85B bond purchased program nor the fed funds target rate.  That news sparked a near 30 point rally which ultimately closed up 23 points from the announcement. Besides the Federal Reserve rate decision, in economic data we had building permits and housing starts which both came in lower than the previous month and also below expectations but with all due respect…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +55.91 (+0.39%) to 14,511.73; S&P 500 +10.37 (+0.67%) to 1,558.71; NASDAQ +25.09 (+0.78%) to 3,254.19 Today caught me somewhat by surprise as last night I expected today to probably start muted and remain that way until the Fed announcement which could then lay way to some swings.  We got essentially the exact opposite.  A gap in the morning essentially went no where to and through the Fed announcement and Bernanke Q&A with then a few spikes and ultimately the SPY closed roughly where it opened. Speaking of the Fed statement, it was essentially the same as the previous statement minus some wording to acknowledge…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -98.99 (-0.74%) to 13,251.97; S&P 500 -10.98 (-0.76%) to 1,435.81; NASDAQ -10.17 (-0.33%) to 3,044.36; Today started off like it was going to be a tight, low volume consolidation day that held the 76% fib but slightly after the lunch time lull the market started to move toward the lows of the day and then after 2pm est really picked up speed to the downside.  We closed just above the prior resistance and now theoretical support of 1434. General Motors (GM) is a stock of the day today reminiscent of a previous stock of the day AIG because GM…