March 19, 2024

Greece today, FOMC tomorrow

Index & Sector performance 6/15/15 The Market: An early gap down was attributed to their being no Greece bail-out deal over the weekend but the market found a bottom in early trading and drifted higher the remainder of the session.  If the market can hold today’s low then it can start to build a base but below and it looks like it could target 2050 quickly. Healthcare (XLV) was the only sector on the WSC Scoreboard to finish higher for the session and is still holding its 50 day SMA.  The biggest laggards were Industrials (XLI), Materials (XLB), and Technology…

HealthCare gains as market slides

Index & Sector performance 3/4/15 The Market: Ultimately, only a a small sell off in the markets after the S&P 500 rallied off the lows which coincided nicely with the upward sloping 20 day SMA.  Aggressive traders could certainly look to use today’s low to trade against. In Individual sectors, HealthCare (XLV) was the lone gainer finishing up 0.48% while the Industrials (XLI) led to the downside finishing 0.78% lower followed closely by Consumer Staples (XLP) and Financials (XLF) which finished down 0.70% and 0.61% respectively.  The biggest loser so far for 2015 is the Utilities (XLU) which is now…

Early volatility wanes, dull day

Index & Sector performance 6/2/14 The Market: Overall a quiet day in the market if you look at the overall performance but that does not show the early volatility the market saw when the S&P 500 futures dropped roughly 10 points at the open to only “V” bottom and spike back up near where the drop occurred.  After that it was tight trading the rest of the day leaving a small up day in the Dow & S&P with the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 closing on the downside. Today there was some drama around ISM Manufacturing PMI after it was…

S&P Futures play MA pinball

Index & Sector performance 12/16/13 The Market: The made strong gains today after what looked like a horrible start to the week.  In overnight trading Sunday the S&P 500 dropped t0 $1754 (March 2014 emini contract) tagging the 50 day SMA and then built a rally off that support.  Surprisingly by the morning the futures had not only regained everything that was lost from Sunday evening’s open but also but in some gains.  Those who do not look at the futures may have never even known of the rough start.  The futures then rallied pre-market to the 20 day SMA…

Week in Review

DJIA -158.20 (-1.21%) to 12,938.11; S&P 500 -15.67 (-1.10%) to 1,402.43; NASDAQ -25.60 (-0.86%) to 2,960.31; Thursday’s late day rally was something we were skeptic of and today started immediately with a gap lower in the S&P which did rally, not quite to even, but after 2pm EST the market started to drop and continued lower for the remainder of the day closing at lows of the day. Why?  Forget the technicals for a minute.  Monday is the 31st, Tuesday is a Holiday for the market and the first of the year which leaves this weekend as very important for…

Daily Wrap

DJIA -18.28 (-0.14%) to 13,096.31;S&P 500 -1.73 (-0.12%) to 1,418.10;NASDAQ -4.25 (-0.14%) to 2,985.91; What did today’s action look like?  Picture a bowl.  Started roughly even for the day and immediately started to pull back into the lows of the day around 1pm EST.  While 1pm was the lows, between roughly 12:30 – 2:30 pm EST the S&P 500 based  and finally in the last hour rallied all the way back to positive territory finally closing slightly negative. Looking at some stocks in the news we start with a name that proved to be a fantastic trade idea in Deckers…

Daily Wrap

DJIA+115.57 (+0.87%) to 13,350.96; S&P 500+16.43 (+1.15%) to 1,446.79; NASDAQ+43.93 (+1.46%) to 3,054.53; Today started with a small move into the 1434 resistance we had noted was above last night but after some quick morning consolidation below, we were off to the races following yesterday’s big gains with another nice day higher today.  Leading the way yesterday was the Financials and while they are not the broad leader again today they followed up nicely on the back of positive comments from Meredith Whitney after yesterday’s close and making the financial talk circuit today.  Specifically she upgraded Bank of America (BAC),…

Smith & Wesson (SWHC)

This ideas was before the horrific events in Newton, Connecticut and I am placing the idea on hold for myself.  The environment where I originally looked at the stock has drastically changed.  While I think gun sales are still trending higher and while I think any serious talk regarding gun control will likely pull forward sales, I think it is only responsible to take a step back and let some additional information and clarity come before re-looking at the name. Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (SWHC) had been a hot company from late 2011 all the way through 2012.  After…

Week in Review

DJIA +81.09 (+0.62%) to 13,155.13; S&P 500 +4.13 (+0.29%) to 1,418.07; NASDAQ -11.23 (-0.38%) to 2,978.04; Friday’s action was a mixed day but predominantly based on on a stock of the day and for that matter the week, Apple Computers (AAPL).  I do not refer when the Dow leads for the day and week as while it is comprised of some of the bigest companies and brands in the US, it is also the smallest price weighted index and these days is often regarded as a poor judge for the broad market.  The word of the week from last Week in…