March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: Not a great start to 2016 for the Bulls but could have been much worse if not for a late end-of-day rally.   So far in after-hours trading the market has continued higher but we will need to see if these gains hold over-night as well as into early trading tomorrow. No Sector was spared in today’s trading but the XLU was the clear relative outperformer finishing down only 0.21% followed by the worst performer for 2015, XLE, finishing down 0.41%. Tomorrow is a light Economic Data session with only Vehicle Sales being reported but later in the week…

The NightCap

The Market: Global concerns sparked an initial move lower in early trading but the markets found support near the $2070 region in the SPX and then managed to finish the session slightly higher.  Energy (XLE) was the clear leader on the WSC Scoreboard followed by Retail (XRT) and Materials (XLB).  Transportation (IYT) lagged hurt by the State Department’s travel ban issued late Monday in response to the recent geopolitical events. After making a low in late August, the XLE rallied until early November and has since held in well consolidating below the November 6th high.  XLE may be setting up…

The NightCap

The Market: The market continues to grind higher with the Russell 2000 (IWM) trying to play catch-up of late. Energy (XLE) led all sectors in today’s trading, again, and has been one of the hottest sectors of late although still down nearly -10% YTD. A relatively big data week with ISM Monday, Fed speak & ADP tomorrow, Unemployment Claims Thursday, and official Jobs data on Friday.  Traders concerned about the Fed and if we will see a December rate hike should be paying attention to this week’s data.       Reported EPS 11/3/15 After the Close:   Reporting EPS…

Global economic growth concerns weigh on market

Index & Sector performance 11/4/14 The Market: Today’s session ultimately finished narrowly lower with the Dow (DIA) managing to close ever so slightly higher.  Midday the damage was worse as traders pointed to the European Commissions cutting growth and inflation forecasts but after the European exchanges closed the U.S. found a bottom and drifted higher into the close. In individual sectors it was again Energy (XLE) which led the way lower finishing down 2.06% as crude oil traded as low as $75.84/ barrel after Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting prices on oil exports to the U.S.  Traders are cautious…

Tech stocks lead sell-off

Index & Sector performance 5/6/14 The Market: Last night we noted 1872ES as a key level to watch.  If it held as overnight support then the index could look to target Friday’s 1886ES highs but if lost then we could see Monday’s lows of 1860.50ES tested and then 1850ES.   In overnight trading the S&P was only able to reach 1881.50ES falling short of Friday’s highs and by the open the futures were sitting at our key 1872ES level.  After some initial jostling around the 1872ES level, the index started to roll over in midday trading reaching as low as…

Strong sell off starts week

Index & Sector performance 2/3/14 The Market:   In the News:     The following noteworthy companies are scheduled to report earnings before tomorrow’s open: EMR, ETN, ADM, CME, SE, HCA, SIRI, IP, BDX, MHFI, DLPH, BSX, KORS, FIS, CLX, AMG, SEP   Analyst Comments:         The Game Plan:

S&P 500 holds 1800

Index & Sector performance 12/10/13 The Market: On what amounted to only a small down day with the S&P 500 losing roughly 5 points, the index was able to hold the $1800 level as well as the 20 day SMA which it recently regained after a one day close below on 12/5/13. It was a light economic data day with the NFIB Small Business index coming in as expected posting a 92.5 with expectations at 92.7 and the previous reading 91.6.  Wholesale inventories were higher than expected with a 1.4% reading when consensus was 0.3%.  The previous month’s reading was…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -46.23 (-0.30%) to 15,612.13;S&P 500 -2.53 (-0.15%) to 1,707.14;NASDAQ +3.36 (+0.09%) to 3,692.95 The Dow and S&P 500 closed slightly lower while the Nasdaq saw a small gain mainly do to a good day in trading for Apple (AAPL).  This will likely be a much quieter week with not as many big names earnings reports or economic events but we did have PMI which came in better than analysts expected with a reading of 56.  Tomorrow on the calendar we have Trade Balance at 8:30 am EST and then FOMC member Evans is speaking at 1 pm EST (fireworks not expected). As…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +130.63 (+0.89%) to 14,831.58; S&P 500 +14.89 (+0.94%) to 1,597.59; NASDAQ +37.79 (+1.32%) to 2,911.14 Today was another one of those small gap and run days where the market drifted higher the entire day.  There is not much else to say except it seems as though the market was happy to rally on today’s better than expected Unemployment Claims but the focus will quickly flip to the Non-Farm Employment Change numbers.  I have estimates at 155K and remember last report came in at 88K. In economic news today, Unemployment Claims came in at their lowest levels in over 5 years and well below analysts expectations. …

Daily Wrap

DJIA -129.71 (-0.93%) to 13,880.08; S&P 500 -17.46 (-1.15%) to 1,495.71; NASDAQ -47.93 (-1.51%) to 3,131.17 Today proved to be a very timely pullback as we noted last last week and then this weekend after Friday’s action that we believed a form of a top was in that would provide a longer pullback/consolidation than we have been seeing of late.  Today essentially wiped out all of last week gains and it is not surprising after such a strong move down to see the markets up slightly after the close.  We will have to see if they can hold or build…