The Nightcap
The Market: A very strong session which was led by the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Dow (DIA) which the S&P 500 (SPY) not far behind. It was interesting to see the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight index lag the S&P pointing to the gains being in the higher weighted stocks in the S&P 500 index. Additionally the Russell 2000 (IWM) underperformed posting half the gains of the SPY. In individual sectors the day session was led by the Industrials (XLI) followed closely by the Materials (XLB). Also closing up over 2% on the session was Technology (XLK) and that move looks…
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…
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…
Oil trades below $50 & leads market lower
Index & Sector performance 1/5/15 The Market: The market was again led by Oil’s decline as we closed below $50 per barrel for the first time since 2009. In the Analyst Comments below you will see a downgrade for Caterpillar (CAT) by JP Morgan. In the note the analyst commented that up to 30% of CAT’s revenue could be under pressure due to lower oil prices. Similarly, Evercore downgraded Terex (TEX) to Hold with an $26 target and United Rentals (URI) to Sell with a $87 target citing concerns that oil’s sharp decline will hurt energy investments and thus construction…
Russell leads overall dull session
Index & Sector performance 11/24/14 The Market: An overall dull session with the S&P 500 (SPY) and Dow (DIA) barely moving while the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) led. As is expected for the remainder of this shortened holiday week, volume was very light. In individual sectors it was Retail (XRT) posting another great session up 1.32%. Today the index was greatly helped by Outerwall (OUTR), operators of Coinstar and Redbox, which finished up 12.32%. Also chipping in was Best Buy (BBY) up 2.29% and Foot Locker (FL) up 3.45%. After spending much of the year down, the XRT…
Energy green in a sea of red
Index & Sector performance 6/11/14 The Market: As we noted late last week and reiterated in Monday’s report, the S&P 500 closed outside of its Weekly (20, 2, -2) Bollinger Bands which has previously lead to counter trend moves for a few weeks to months. While we respect the strong uptrend in the market, we also believe this is time to exercise caution on the long side, at least for the broad market. One additional note. While many market pundits in the media have been looking for pull back and becoming cautious recently, they also seem very willing to step…
A low volume flat session
Index & Sector performance 11/25/13 The Market: Monday’s trading started with some optimism but that was sold in early trading and the market started climbing back toward the highs of the day after a pullback. The rally efforts topped around 2:30 pm EST and the market then declined into the close but after the dust settled it was a flat day. Again volumes were on the light side. Today’s economic calendar was light with only Pending Home Sales on the docket and came in worse than expected posting a -0.6% when 2.2% was expected. Tomorrow we get more housing data…