March 19, 2024

Daily Wrap

DJIA +21.05 (+0.14%) to 14,839.80; S&P 500 +3.96 (+0.25%) to 1,597.57; NASDAQ +20.49 (+0.71%) to 2,887.44 Today saw some jockeying for position by the indices as they started the day moving lower and then recovered to close slightly up for the session.  In economic news the Case/Shiller index rose 1.2% from the previous month’s reading and topped estimates with a 9.3% vs 9.1% estimate.  Chicago PMI on the other hand fell short of estimates recording a 49 vs 52.5 estimate.  Consumer confidence came in mainly inline with a 68.1 vs 68.4 estimate. Before the open, Pfizer (PFE) reported earnings which missed on both revenues ($13.5B vs $14B) and EPS (54c…

Week in Review

DJIA +67.58 (+0.47%) to 14,397.07; S&P 500 +6.92 (+0.45%) to 1,551.18; NASDAQ +12.28 (+0.38%) to 3,244.37 This week was all about Jobs data and the build up to a number that didn’t disappointing posting a 236K non-farm employment change when consensus expectations were around 158K.  This also took the Unemployment rate down to 7.7% from 7.9%.  Cue to the cynicism regarding the number and the way it is calculated and it is not that I disagree but the fact also is that the method of calculation is not changed month to month so there is a frame of reference where better is better…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +33.25 (+0.23%) to 14,329.49; S&P 500 +2.80 (+0.18%) to 1,544.26; NASDAQ +9.72 (+0.30%) to 3,232.09 Today was a quiet lower volume trading day ahead of the Jobs numbers tomorrow morning.  I am currently showing consensus estimates at 162K and as a reminder (unless revised) last report came in at 157K.  The report will be out at 8:30am EST tomorrow giving us about an hour to digest and get the day’s bias before we open. Time Warner (TWX) was in the news as they announced plans to spin off its Time Inc. publishing division.  TWX expects the new entity to be trading before…

Daily Wrap

DJIA +99.22 (+0.71%) to 13,979.30; S&P 500 +15.58 (+1.04%) to 1,511.29; NASDAQ +40.41 (+1.29%) to 3,171.58 I did not expect today to be as strong as it ended up being.  I thought yesterday’s move might be the start of a more prolonged pullback/consolidation that would then give us a new platform to rally from but today’s rally essentially gained back all of yesterday’s losses.  I still do feel this action is part of a topping process but clearly the market’s won’t go without a fight.  Also with this week being a low data week, earnings will likely be a driving…