March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: Overall it was another tight trading range session but the Russell 2000 (IWM) continued its underperformance and finished down over –1%.  It appears that traders may be on hold until the FOMC statement and rate decision tomorrow. Transportation (IYT) sector was the hardest hit on the WSC Scoreboard as the sector ETF finished down -2.65% followed by yesterday’s biggest loser, Energy (XLE), which closed down -1.2%.  The biggest gaining sector on the session was HealthCare (XLV) which finished up 1.84% and was helped by Allergan (AGN), Biogen Inc (BIIB), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX), and Mylan NV (MYL) which all…

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…

Central bank news abroad drives headlines

Index & Sector performance 1/21/15 The Market: It was a relatively choppy session which saw the Dow (DIA), S&P 500 (SPY), and NASDAQ (QQQ) manage to finish higher while the Russell 2000 (IWM) closed lower.  There were reports out of Europe that the ECB Executive Board proposed the purchase of EUR 50B/mo of bonds in a program that should last at least a year.  There was more news from outside the U.S. with a surprise rate cut in Canada to counteract the sharply declining oil prices. Energy (XLE) led the charge today as all sectors on the WSC Scoreboard finished…