March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: We expected to see a tight trading range until the FOMC statement but instead we saw buyers in advance of the statement as the S&P 500 (SPY) pressed higher.  The the announcement came and there was a sharp sell-off but buyers came right back and all 4 major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished above the pre-FOMC announcement highs. As was expected by many, the FOMC left the Fed Fund Rates unchanged but, based on the comments, it appears a rate hike is on the table for December if the data warrants.  We also saw the committee…

China, Icahn, & IBB lead market lower

The Market: A gap-and-go day to the downside as the S&P 500 finished nearly 50 points lower on the session as media pointed to renewed concerns over China’s economy and cautious comments from Carl Icahn on high yield bonds and the stock market.  The Dow (DIA) was the relative outperformer today finishing down only -1.9% while the NASDAQ (QQQ) finished down the most at -2.85% on the session but YTD that is reversed with the DIA down slightly over –10% while the QQQ is only down slightly over -3%. Short-term the market appears to be very oversold here and we…

XLU stands out in today’s action

Index & Sector performance 2/18/15 The Market: A choppy session overall which ended up finishing flat.  Some negative divergence is building on the S&P 500 60 minute chart but, even when it leads to a pullback, the divergence can exist for many day.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see the index continue to meander and drift higher for the remainder of the week into Options expiration. In individual sectors it was the Utilities (XLU) leading the way and by a wide margin finishing up 2.37%.  We would be watching the XLU closely here to see if it can build on…

Off the 200 Day and up

Index & Sector performance 2/2/15 The Market: The S&P 500 (SPY) started the session lower but found support just slightly above the 200 day SMA which has not been visited since October 2014.  After an initial pop and then pullback the index rallied the remainder of the session to finish over 30 points off the lows.  So far in the after hours the index is holding the gains and consolidating.  Today’s action should be very promising for long traders and you know your stops — below today’s lows. The leading sector on the WSC Scoreboard was Energy (XLE) finishing up…

Heartfelt thank you to our Vets!!!

Index & Sector performance 11/11/14 The Market: A Heartfelt thank you goes out to all of the past, present, and future service men and women who work each day to keep us safe.  Without you, what we have and unfortunately often take for granted each and every day would not exist.  Almost zeros across the board as it was a relatively uneventful trading session.  Maybe the clearest example of how uneventful is that the entire trading day’s range on the S&P 500 was 6 points and volume was again light. As noted last night, we still view the short term…

Reason or Excuse?

Index & Sector performance 3/3/14 The Market: Depending on your bias you likely either believe the events transpiring with Russia “scared” the market causing it to drop today or you believe the drop was already in the cards based on the technicals and the Russian incident just gives the news something concrete to point to as the cause.  While we tend to be much more in the latter than former camp, we also subscribe to the believe it doesn’t really matter as in either case we are left with what happened and the decision what to do now. The S&P…

Small Caps lead move lower

Index & Sector performance 12/11/13 The Market: Strong down day in the market with the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 closing down over 1%.  The Russell 2000 has been leading the charge for the year but has underperformed of late including today posting the largest loss at 1.64%.  After remaining relatively unchanged in overnight and early morning trading, the market started to slip in the pre-market about an hour before the open.  Losses built the remainder of the day with the S&P 500 closing near the lows of the day and through the 20 Day SMA. In economic news…

ECB moved & so did the markets

Index & Sector performance 11/7/13 The Market: The S&P 500 spiked higher around 8am EST time after the ECB announced a rate cut.  This move was further helped by a strong Q3 GDP number.  While we opened off the pre-market highs, the real selling began after the bells.  After each move lower the market tried to stage a rally but all were sold.  The S&P 500 closed right at the 20 day SMA  From peak to trough using the S&P futures we saw a near 30 point swing to the downside. In economic news, GDP came in much stronger than…