March 19, 2024

Early gap up fades, XLE leads lower

Index & Sector performance 4/21/15 The Market: The Nasdaq (QQQ) was the only sector that managed to finish the session higher while the Blue Chip Dow (DIA) was the leader to the downside. After spending the majority of the year down, Energy (XLE) has recently rallied to up YTD but there was no optimism today as the sector finished over 1% lower.  Also finishing lower was Utilities (XLU) down 0.89%, Materials (XLB) down 0.74%, and Financials (XLF) down 0.50%.  Today’s clear leader was HeathCare (XLV) which managed to close up 0.68% on the session. No tracked Economic data yesterday or today…

Weak Data & Earnings help drive stocks lower

Index & Sector performance 1/27/15 The Market: While the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY) finished down over 1%, it was the NASDAQ (QQQ) which led the session to the downside finishing 2.59% lower.  Microsoft (MSFT) was the biggest drain on the QQQ as it finished down 9.25% after a disappointing EPS report and even managed to pull down Apple (AAPL) which finished 3.5% lower on the session.  Things may look a little better for the tech sector tomorrow as AAPL is up after hours after reporting EPS. The Russell 2000 (IWM) managed to be the relative winner finishing down…

Watch out for traps

Index & Sector performance 12/9/14 The Market: The S&P 500 found itself down over 20 points within the first hour plus of trading  as traders pointed to concerns over China and Greece.  Throughout the early drop the Russell 2000 (IWM) remained strong down only a fraction of the other indices and then was the first to turn positive on the day.  The IWM’s resilience continued throughout the remainder of the trading session and finished the clear leader. Today’s action certainly feels like another Bear trap where the market looks as though it is about to start a major prolonged slide…

Another flat session overall

Index & Sector performance 7/24/14 The Market: Another relatively flat session across the broad major indices as earnings continue to drive most individual stock movements. The NASDAQ (QQQ) and S&P 500 (SPY) have both managed to breakout to new 52 week highs this week and hold those breakouts so far but the S&P 500 Equal Weight index (RSP) and Dow (DIA) have yet to follow.  The Russell 2000 (IWM) is up on the week but far from new 52 week highs and also seems vulnerable to fill the downside gap left from Tuesday. Speaking of the IWM, we noted in…

Do you buy the dip?

Index & Sector performance 1/28/14 The Market: In the overnight session the futures managed to recover gaining nearly 20 points from Monday’s lows.  When the Durables number was announced and came in much worse than expected the market puled back challenging support but that support held and by the open the market was back near the pre-market highs.  The remainder of the day the S&P 500 stayed in a relatively tight trading range with all of the major indices closing higher. In Economic news the Durable Goods numbers came in much worse than expected with Core Durable Goods Orders posting…