Market Recap for Monday, March 25, 2019 U.S. stocks finished in bifurcated fashion on Monday as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ lost 0.08% and 0.07%, respectively, while the Dow Jones tacked on 0.06%. The small cap Russell 2000 was a relative outperformer, gaining 0.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 22, 2019 Investors were worried on Friday and it was reflected in the Volatility Index ($VIX), which rose more than 20%, and sharply lower U.S. equity prices. The small cap Russell 2000 was hit hardest, dropping 3.62%. The weakness, however, was felt just... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 21, 2019 Technology stocks (XLK, +2.51%) carried Wall Street higher on Thursday as computer hardware ($DJUSCR, +3.56%), semiconductors ($DJUSSC, +3.13%), and software ($DJUSSW, +2.20%) all surged to fresh 2019 highs. Apple, Inc. (AAPL, +3.68%), which has regained its title of... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 20, 2019 Yesterday was all about the Fed and what it might say. It was essentially a foregone conclusion that there'd be no rate hike, so traders were on edge anticipating what might change in the Fed's policy statement. Stock traders... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 19, 2019 The U.S. stock market finished the day in bifurcated fashion as the NASDAQ (+0.12%) clung to a relatively minor gain, while the aggressive small cap Russell 2000 index lost 0.57%. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 barely finished... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 18, 2019 U.S. stocks moved modestly higher on Monday, extending Friday breakouts on both the S&P 500 (+0.37%) and NASDAQ (+0.34%). The Russell 2000 gained 0.67% to lead the action. Crude oil prices ($WTIC, +1.47%) topped $59 per... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 15, 2019 It was another solid day for the bulls to close out last week. It was also quad-witching options expiration Friday, which typically results in much-heavier-than-usual volume. Volume was certainly heavy on Friday. Leadership was found in the aggressive NASDAQ, which jumped 0.76%... READ MORE
In a sense, it already has. Well, maybe not 16 straight years, but play along. I've done a lot of historical stock market research over the years and several patterns really stand out. But one in particular always keeps me on edge as a short-term trader. The week... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 14, 2019 Thursday was a day of rest and bifurcated action. The Dow Jones gained ground, albeit a rather miniscule 7 points, but the other major indices fell. The Russell 2000, NASDAQ and S&P 500 dropped 0.40%, 0.16%, and 0.09%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 13, 2019 It was another strong day on Wall Street. All 11 sectors moved higher for the second time this week. Industrials (XLI, +0.88%) represent the only sector to have posted a daily loss this week. The other 10 sectors have shown gains all... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 12, 2019 Boeing (BA, -6.15%) was once again a major drag on the Dow Jones as that index ended the session in negative territory (-0.38%), while our other indices were positive. The NASDAQ (+0.44%) was the best performing index as 10 of... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 11, 2019 It never hurts to have Apple, Inc. (AAPL, +3.46%) breakout and that's what happened on Monday. It not only lifted the technology sector (XLK, +2.15%), but it provided a spark to our major indices as we experienced a "... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 8, 2019 Friday started ugly. There's no way to sugar coat the worst jobs report in 18 months. Nonfarm payrolls fell way short of expectations, 20,000 actual vs. 175,000 consensus estimate. Slowing job growth was an excellent predictor of the last... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 7, 2019 Selling in U.S. equities continued for a fourth consecutive session as this is easily the most difficult period in 2019 for the equity bulls. The first technical breakdown occurred on daily charts as all of our major indices closed beneath their respective... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 6, 2019 All of our major indices took a hit yesterday, including the small cap Russell 2000 ($RUT), which once again lagged badly and dropped another 2.01%. The RUT was easily the worst performer as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 5, 2019 Another weak start and the inability to finish well contributed to minor losses across our major indices on Tuesday. Relative weakness in the small cap Russell 2000 resulted in a 0.45% loss there, while our other major indices fell more modestly -... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 4, 2019 It's really hard for me to say who won yesterday's market battle. Obviously, we finished lower so I guess that would be the determining factor to say the bears won this battle. But it sure felt like at least... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 1, 2019 U.S. equities rallied strongly at the open on Friday, then gave back most, if not all, of those gains by late morning, and finally rallied once again in the afternoon. While intraday volatility was high and different, the end result was what... READ MORE
Gold ($GOLD) performs its best in a falling U.S. Dollar ($USD) environment. There is a solid inverse relationship between the direction of GOLD and the direction of the USD that has existed for decades. The following chart illustrates this relationship from 2001 to 2010: "Gold thrives when the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 28, 2019 Our major indices were lower across the board on Thursday, but losses were minimal. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 dropped 0.27%, 0.28%, 0.29%, and 0.35%, respectively. That's not much damage considering... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 27, 2019 We're seeing how the stock market deals with a bit of adversity with a Volatility Index ($VIX) at 15 vs. when it was in the 20s and 30s. Every time it appears we're going to have a nasty day,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 26, 2019 In what has become a rarity in 2019, all of our major indices finished in negative territory on Tuesday, but it wasn't without a fight. There was early selling, but stocks rallied throughout much of the session to forge to intraday... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 25, 2019 If you looked at the final numbers yesterday, you'd probably think it was just another day in this two-month long advance, but it wasn't just another day. It was a reversal off a gap higher with the market initially... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 22, 2019 Software stocks ($DJUSSW, +1.44%) continued their impressive dash higher, eclipsing their October high to enter all-time high territory. It was a significant breakout as the DJUSSW has been a relative leader for a long, long time. Check this out: Perhaps the most... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 21, 2019 U.S. stocks stalled on Thursday, but a minimum of sideways consolidation this week was to be expected given 60 minute negative divergences that I discussed earlier in the week. Before we talk about yesterday's action, check out how the negative... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 19, 2019 We saw a bit of intraday back and forth action on Wednesday with the same result - another Wall Street gain. I'm really surprised we haven't seen more selling this week. We're at major price resistance levels... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 19, 2019 Materials (XLB, +0.62%) and utilities (XLU, +0.59%) led another Wall Street rally on Tuesday, although our major indices did see a bit of selling into the close. The XLB and XLU benefited from a falling dollar ($USD, -0.40%) and 10... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 15, 2019 Friday produced very solid gains as the U.S. government averted a second shutdown as a funding resolution was passed. Also, there was word that US-China trade talks were progressing and any positive developments there are typically well-received by global markets. In an... READ MORE
Understanding relative strength is extremely important in outperforming the benchmark S&P 500. As a sector begins to outperform, it tells us that money is rotating towards that particular sector. One way to visualize this is to look at an RRG chart. It will only take one glance to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 14, 2019 Real estate (XLRE, +0.38%) and communications services (XLC, +0.37%) were the leaders yesterday as Wall Street staged a rally attempt after dealing with an early blow - a very weak December retail sales report. There's one thing everyone should... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 13, 2019 The stock market is beginning to exhibit a bit of the borishness that accompanies bull market advances. The Volatility Index ($VIX) remaining below 16 is confirming the reduced level of fear. There were certainly swings intraday yesterday, but the panicked, impulsive-type selling appears... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 12, 2019 Another government shutdown was averted and the U.S. stock market reacted quite favorably, as you might expect, with all of our major indices surging higher. Our major indices had quite a day: Dow Jones: +1.49% S&P 500: +1.29%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 11, 2019 Industrials (XLI, +0.53%), energy (XLE, +0.48%) and financials (XLF, +0.31%) were Monday's leaders as bifurcated action was once again present. The clear index leader was the small cap Russell 2000 index (+0.84%) and that's become... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 8, 2019 Friday was a solid day for the bulls. It wasn't because we saw large gains, because we didn't. In fact, it was bifurcated action where the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 barely closed higher with gains... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 7, 2019 The bears have been waiting for a day like yesterday, which featured a bit of impulsive selling and an accelerating Volatility Index ($VIX). Unfortunately, the bulls may have already inflicted too much damage upon the bears for them to recover fully. I view... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 6, 2019 All of our major indices closed lower on Wednesday and we haven't seen that very often in 2019. The losses were minimal and traders continued to have an appetite for the riskier sectors, so it certainly wasn't a huge... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Tuesday was Groundhog Day for those that have seen the movie starring Bill Murray. It was a repeat of what we've seen throughout earnings season. We heard a somewhat disappointing outlook from a market leader, in this case Alphabet (GOOGL, +0.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 4, 2019 Technology (XLK, +1.60%) led another broad-based rally on Wall Street Monday as all of our major indices closed higher. There was particularly strong action on the aggressive NASDAQ and Russell 2000 as they gained 1.15% and 1.03%, respectively. 9 0f... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 1, 2019 I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking that the market was doomed on Friday after Amazon.com (AMZN, -5.38%) disappointed traders with its outlook during Thursday's after hours trading. After all, AMZN is a Wall... READ MORE
I love the seasonality tool here at StockCharts.com. It can potentially give you an advance notification of a price move before it happens. One of the more striking seasonal tendencies that I've seen has been the unbelievable historical performance of Bookings Holdings (BKNG) from January through May,... READ MORE