The NightCap
The Market: Stocks had another tough session following a second day where the Chinese market was halted. Chinese officials have removed the circuit breaker restrictions for tomorrow’s session and traders appear to be preparing for a volatile session but it will be interesting to see if allowing the index to freely trade will ultimately help it bottom — even if only for the short-term. Another session where no Sector saw gains but the relative outperformers were Retail (XRT), which was helped by Wal-Mart (WMT) after gaining 2.3% on the session, and Monday’s leader Utilities (XLU). Along with what happens overnight…
Back-to-Back big declines
The Market: WOW! As we noted in Wednesday’s Nightcap, we expected volatility to continue and that there “seems to be a great deal of risk in the market”. That is why we noted a move below Wednesday’s low of 2070 in the S&P 500 could trigger a sharp decline targeting 2000 in the S&P to start. That is certainly NOT to say we expected the S&P to get there by Friday! The S&P did not make the close easy going out right at the lows evoking the fear of a strong gap lower Monday. While a gap down Monday could…
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…
Oil gets crushes while market dips
The Market: A small down day which could have looked worse if not for a late day rally off the lows. Interesting to see the leaders to the downside were the Dow (DIA) and Russell 2000 (IWM). We were looking for the market to close just off the lows and then gap down tomorrow for a short-term long opportunity but today’s end of day rally has changed that set-up. Overall we remain cautious on the broad market and believe the choppy trading of late will continue. Energy (XLE) led to the downside, again, as crude oil continues to slide reaching…
Merger Monday doesn’t help market
Index & Sector performance 11/17/14 The Market: Despite a very active M&A session, it was yet another very tight trading range in the S&P 500 while the NASDAQ (QQQ) lagged and the Russell 2000 (IWM) led to the downside. In deals we saw Allergan (AGN) agree to be acquired by Actavis (ACT) for a combination of cash and ACT stock which totaled $219 per share. Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) who had also been trying to buy AGN stepped aside not feeling comfortable they could justify the valuation to shareholders. Two more big names in M&A news as Halliburton (HAL) announced it…
Fed gains quickly given back
Index & Sector performance 10/9/14 The Market: All the gains saw from yesterday’s Fed driven rally were taken back in today’s trading with the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY) closing down nearly 2% while the Russell 2000 (IWM) lost 2.7%. The NASDAQ (QQQ) was helped by Apple (APPL) which managed to post a small gain of 0.22% on the session but the QQQ’s still finsihed 1.62% lower. Some big numbers put up across the sectors led by Energy (XLE) which finished down 3.67% and is now over 4% lower on the year. The XLE underperforming is not new but…
Markets stop slide, fight back
Index & Sector performance 8/4/14 The Market: After two strong down days, all 4 indices on the WSC Scoreboard managed to find bottoms and rally with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge finishing the day 0.89% higher. One note of caution, volume was on the light side when compared to the previous two sessions. Our suggestion would be to watch the first major pullback after today’s move. If it is orderly then the market likely has unfinished business to the upside, otherwise we will likely see another push lower. In individual sectors it was green across the board except…
S&P takes back overnight losses plus
Index & Sector performance 5/5/14 The Market: The S&P futures moved lower in the Sunday overnight session attributed to weak economic data out of China as well continued unrest in Ukraine. The futures continued lower throughout early trading Monday but found a bottom right at the open on an initial spike lower to 1860.50ES which was quickly bought and the index started a march higher reaching 1880ES by 2:30 pm ET. The index spent the last hour consolidating the near 20 point intraday rally. If 1872ES holds in overnight trading it appears the index could look to make a move…
S&P 500 remains above the 50 DSMA
Index & Sector performance 4/7/14 The Market: Friday’s selling action continues on Monday as the S&P 500 index lost roughly 20 points. Today’s lows in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) correlated nicely with previous levers of reaction and the 50 day SMA. If this short term support is lost we could see the cash index next targeting $1800 and even $1650-1700. In the meantime, aggressive traders could look to use today’s lows as a level to trade again on the long side for a bounce. Reporting EPS 4/8/14 Pre-Market: Only one name of note reporting EPS tomorrow…