$50 is the new $5….
The Market: As expected, volatility continues and $50 point swings are becoming as common as $5 point swings use to be. We expect volatility to remain high but would not be surprised to see the magnitude of the swing start to temper. Today was important because after two straight days of gap ups that sold off into the close, today managed to hold and extend on the gap after an intraday pullback. As we noted in Monday’s write-up, the market is very short-term oversold and we would expect a bounce so today’s action is not surprising but we will be…
Yellen sends stocks screaming, dollar dropping
Index & Sector performance 3/18/15 The Market: After the FOMC rate decision at 2pm ET, the S&P 500 cash index rallied nearly 40 points from the lows to the highs and did so, astonishingly, in less than 2 hours but the more impressive move may have been in the U.S. Dollar which moved strongly lower and continued its decline in the after hours tagging 1.10 in the EUR/USD exchange after trading below 1.05 Monday. The U.S. Dollar has shown remarkable strength on late so it is not surprising to see a give back and considering how far how fast we…
Short week, low vol, mixed results
Index & Sector performance 6/30/14 The Market: An overall mixed session saw the Russell 2000 and NASDAQ finish higher while the Dow and S&P 500 finished slightly lower. Volume was down which will likely be a trend this shortened holiday trading week. In Individual sectors, the Utilities (XLU) led and earlier in the session the Transportation sector (IYT) was a relatively close second but a late day sell off put it just behind the Materials (XLB) and in-line with Retail (XRT). The largest gainer in the Utilities was Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW) which finished up 2.41% and looks like…
Ben to the rescue!
Index & Sector performance 9/18/13 The Market: The clock struck 2pm EST and it is time for Big Ben and the Fed to put all the recent speculation, at least for now, to rest. Neither changes to the current $85B bond purchased program nor the fed funds target rate. That news sparked a near 30 point rally which ultimately closed up 23 points from the announcement. Besides the Federal Reserve rate decision, in economic data we had building permits and housing starts which both came in lower than the previous month and also below expectations but with all due respect…