Slow grind higher to start Holiday week
Index & Sector performance 12/22/14 The Market We expected even lighter volume today then we saw but it was still much lighter than the previous sessions. We would not be surprised to see the market continue to drift higher in a choppy manner throughout the holiday trading session and into the New Year. Tomorrow is the heaviest day for Economic data but we are not expecting fireworks. If we do see a pullback we would expect it to be a buying opportunity for short term traders. Reporting EPS 12/23/14 Pre-Market: Big name reporting tomorrow before the open…
EoD gains mask intraday swing
Index & Sector performance 9/17/14 The Market: Early in the session the markets were quiet as traders awaited the FOMC statement and speculated if the wording of the statement would be changed. The answer was that not much changed and specifically the Fed continues to state that they will keep key interest rates near zero for a “considerable time”. The initial reaction to the release was a sharp decline but buyers quickly stepped in and the S&P 500 recovered and then rallied to fresh highs on the day before finishing the session back where it started. The leading sector on…
Argentina default rattles global markets
Index & Sector performance 7/31/14 The Market: A sea of red today on the WSC Scoreboard with all 4 major indices closing strongly lower led by the Russell 2000 (IWM). Major media outlets pointed to weakness overnight in International markets caused by Argentina’s default. Looking at the technicals, the S&P 500 (SPY) and the Dow (DIA) both clearly lost their 50 day moving averages on a closing basis and did so on an increase in volume. The NASDAQ (QQQ), which has been this year’s strongest performer, is still a few percent above the 50’s while the Russell 2000 (IWM) has…
Merger denied, collaboration approved
Index & Sector performance 7/16/14 The Market: A small up session in the market was helped by solid earnings reports in the morning and a potential huge media merger between Time Warner (TWX) and Twenty First Century Fox (FOXA). FOXA offered $85/share but were turned down by TWZ. This sent shares of TWX screaming higher finishing the day up 17.07% as traders reevaluated TWX’s worth and also speculated on increased offers. In other corporate news, Apple (AAPL) announced they will be teaming up with IBM (IBM) to provide business mobile solutions. BlackBerry (BBRY) was negatively affected by the news finishing…
Financial earnings remain focus for week
Index & Sector performance 7/14/14 The Market: All four major indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished equally higher in today’s action. We continue to be most interested in the Russell 2000 (IWM) and the fact that the Small Caps are not enjoying as solid of a year as the other major indices. We ultimately believe for further gains the small caps need to be involved. In individual sectors the WSC Scoreboard was led by Energy (XLE) which finished up 0.87%. Also finishing higher on the WSC Scoreboard was the Financials (XLF) which saw Citigroup (C) beat earnings this morning and…
This down day came with volume
Index & Sector performance 7/8/14 The Market: *** Administrative Note: Due to traveling, this will be the last update for the week. *** A second straight day lower for all 4 broad market indices on the WSC Scoreboard but setting today apart from other recent down days was a noticeable pick-up in volume. Leading the charge to the downside was the NASDAQ (QQQ) and Russell 2000 (IWM) both finishing 1.2% lower. We remain cautious on the overall broad market and as noted in last night’s report are watching the IWM closely. Its failure to lead and make new highs with…
Very quiet start to the week
Index & Sector performance 7/7/14 The Market: Today was a very quiet trading session which saw the market give back some of last week’s holiday gains. Looking over the Economic Calendar, this is a light data week and while Alcoa (AA) will kick off earnings season tomorrow after the close it will still be a while before we are in the thick of earnings season. We are watching the Russell 2000 (IWM) closely. In good times you expect to see the Tech Stocks and Small caps lead. While the NASDAQ (QQQ) has come back to do its part this year,…
Analyst Comments
Today’s featured analyst comment is by Goldman Sachs who upgraded Gartner, Inc. (IT) to Buy with an $85 price target. IT has been on a strong run up over 38% the trailing 12 months and Goldman believes there is more in the tank. Looking at the chart there is some work needed but we think they may be right. If IT can continue to digest under the recent highs while the MACD continues to recycle then this could lay the ground work for another leg higher. What we are watching specifically on the stock is the MACD and the 50…
S&P regains the 50
The Market: Today did not have anything to really speak of in terms of Economic data and the remainder of the week is not necessarily uneventful but also not one of the more data laden weeks we see. Tuesday morning brings the NFIB Small Business Index, Thursday the Unemployment Claims as well as Fed Budget Balance and Import prices. and Friday rounds out the week with Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations as well as Retail Sales and PPI. We track the data and the numbers posted in the Events Calendar. Story Stocks: Shareholders of Delta Air Lines (DAL) have had…
Daily Wrap
DJIA -98.99 (-0.74%) to 13,251.97; S&P 500 -10.98 (-0.76%) to 1,435.81; NASDAQ -10.17 (-0.33%) to 3,044.36; Today started off like it was going to be a tight, low volume consolidation day that held the 76% fib but slightly after the lunch time lull the market started to move toward the lows of the day and then after 2pm est really picked up speed to the downside. We closed just above the prior resistance and now theoretical support of 1434. General Motors (GM) is a stock of the day today reminiscent of a previous stock of the day AIG because GM…