Market Recap for Wednesday, December 12, 2018 The opening gap higher on Wednesday added to the recent stock market advance and the bulls stretched those early morning gains into the afternoon session. But much of those intraday profits faded as the session wore on and an across-the-board advance... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Volatile action on Tuesday resulted in a bifurcated market. The NASDAQ managed to cling to gains at the close, while the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 saw early morning gains turn into losses by the close. Leadership came mostly... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, December 10, 2018 Yesterday was significant for one very important technical development. The February 2018 low close of 2582 was within a whisker on Monday as the S&P 500 hit an intraday low of 2583 before rallying strongly. Technology (XLK, +1.38%) led the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, December 7, 2018 Friday marked the end of a rough day and a rough week for U.S. equities. Strength was found in utilities (XLU, +0.37%), the only sector to end in positive territory to close out the week. Gold miners ($DJUSPM, +2.36%) and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, December 6, 2018 The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were both on a crash course for key February price support until buyers re-emerged just past 11am EST. At the low yesterday, the Dow Jones was down nearly 800 points and it had tumbled... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, December 5, 2018 The U.S. stock market was closed. Pre-Market Action U.S. futures look set to continue Tuesday's rout. The 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) is lower by 3 basis points to 2.89% as money seeks out safety in the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, December 4, 2018 Don't be swayed by market commentary that discusses lack of volume yesterday as a positive. First of all, the Dow Jones fell 800 points. 800!!! And that's somehow a positive? We lost 20 hour EMA support on the intraday... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, December 3, 2018 Global stocks were buoyed on Monday by the United States and China agreeing to delay further tariffs for 90 days to provide the two countries an opportunity to work through its trade differences. Obviously, nothing has been resolved and it simply pushes back... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 30, 2018 Friday's strength capped off a very solid week for the bulls, one in which the Dow Jones gained more than 1250 points. Strength was found everywhere although healthcare (XLV, +2.03%) and utilities (XLU, +1.48%) were the big winners to... READ MORE
Everybody wants the secret formula. You know, the one where you never lose money. Well, I haven't found THAT one yet, but trading companies that have recently beaten Wall Street revenue and EPS estimates is a fairly solid runner-up strategy. A company that produces results in excess... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 29, 2018 Before I discuss strength and weakness from the mixed action on Thursday, let me first say that the Volatility Index ($VIX) remains one of my biggest fears about the current state of the market. In the morning yesterday, the VIX touched its high... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 28, 2018 Wall Street finally (!) had a day where the bulls could smile at 4pm EST. It was a trend day where the buying begins early and continues throughout the trading day. These days tend to be very bullish, although there is still plenty to... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 27, 2018 One highlight from Tuesday's action is that the U.S. Dollar ($USD, +0.31%) remains in favor as it nears yet another breakout. This is important on a number of fronts, especially with respect to gold ($GOLD, -0.74%). There'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 26, 2018 Yesterday marked the first day in quite awhile where we saw all of our major indices higher, along with all of our sectors. All eleven sectors gained ground, even the defensive sectors - though they lagged badly on a relative basis. Leading the charge... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 23, 2018 Friday's action was disappointing on a couple of different levels. First, the Friday morning attempt at a rally failed midday and sellers emerged into the close. It was somewhat similar to the action on Wednesday when the early morning gap higher... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Wall Street was mostly higher on Wednesday, although, by just about any other measure, it was a disappointing session. The early morning gap higher was essentially where the bullishness ended and there was a slow drift lower throughout the balance of the day.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 20, 2018 It was another ugly day for U.S. equities as the February price support on our major indices draws closer and closer. Volatility shot higher as panicked, impulsive selling once again gripped Wall Street. Energy (XLE, -3.28%), consumer discretionary (XLY, -2.26%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 19, 2018 I'd like to say something good about yesterday's action on Wall Street, but I don't think there's anything to be said. Impulsive selling returned with little in the way of a bid on technology stocks... READ MORE
Special Event Join me and John Hopkins, President of EarningsBeats.com, after the bell today for a 4:30pm EST webinar. I'll be discussing the stocks that I believe represent the best trading opportunities of Q4. These stocks all posted better-than-expected quarterly revenues and EPS and... READ MORE
Trading is difficult, emotional and can be quite lonely. We have seen volatility ($VIX) shoot higher, rising from an 11.61 close on October 3rd to a high of 28.84 on October 11th. Since then, we've remained above the key 16-17 support level that typically holds... READ MORE
Reminder I post a blog article every morning that the stock market is open in a format similar to today's article. If you haven't already subscribed (for FREE) and would like to, simply scroll to the bottom of this article and type your email address into... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 14, 2018 In a rare twist, communication services (XLC, +0.49%) was the only sector to gain ground yesterday. The group has underperformed the S&P 500 badly since its July relative high with Facebook's (FB) quarterly earnings report on July 25th... READ MORE
From a trading perspective, I wanted to give you a quick idea of what I look for in a trade. I bought Tandem Diabetes Care (TNDM) when it crossed back above 31.21 and I'll hold it unless it closes beneath 31.00 or moves intraday beneath 30.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 13, 2018 Losses weren't big on Tuesday as the Dow Jones dropped just 0.40% and was the worst performing of our major indices. But it seemed to be more of a continuation of the recent downtrend as all key areas of the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 12, 2018 Welcome back bears. Welcome back volatility. It was another day of steep losses on Wall Street, underscoring the likely end to what the bulls were hoping was a sustainable rally back to recent highs. There was a major test last week for the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 9, 2018 There was a return of strength in defensive sectors on Friday as consumer staples (XLP, +0.58%), utilities (XLU, +0.15%) and real estate (XLRE, +0.12%) were the only sectors to finish the session in positive territory. There was also significant relative... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 8, 2018 Well, another Fed day has come and gone. The FOMC ended its two day meeting and left rates unchanged, as expected. It promised, however, further gradual increases. If you recall, the spike in the 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) to 3.25%, a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, November 7, 2018 The Dow Jones surged 545 points, or 2.13%, yesterday and that index of conglomerates was a laggard. NASDAQ stocks exploded nearly 200 points higher, or 2.64%, to extend what's been a very impressive rally after October's massacre.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, November 6, 2018 All eleven sectors rose on Tuesday with materials (XLB, +1.64%) leading as the U.S. Dollar Index ($USD) closed at its lowest level in nearly two weeks. All of our major indices had similar gains, from 0.55% to 0.68%, as... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, November 5, 2018 Bifurcated market action dominated on Monday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 gapped higher and traded higher throughout nearly all of the session. The NASDAQ and Russell 2000, on the other hand, struggled throughout most of the day with an afternoon... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, November 2, 2018 Traders were anxiously awaiting jobs data last week. First, it was a solid ADP employment report on Wednesday morning that helped to lift U.S. equities. But the biggie was on Friday and we all held our collective breath as the numbers were... READ MORE
I'm not a fan of buying (or short selling) stocks and holding them into quarterly earnings reports. It's simply too difficult to manage risk. Yes, there are options strategies that you can employ to reduce risk so we could debate back and forth the merits of... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, November 1, 2018 The U.S. Dollar Index ($USD) absorbed its largest decline in several months and that finally triggered buying in the materials sector (XLB, +2.81%). Gold ($GOLD) was a big beneficiary for sure as it climbed nearly 2%, one of its largest advances... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, October 31, 2018 Let's start with the positives from Wednesday's action. First, all of our major indices rebounded and finished higher on the session, led by the more aggressive NASDAQ and NASDAQ 100. These two indices had been crushed both on an... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, October 30, 2018 Today's article will be limited as I'm having technical difficulties sharing charts, but I'll give you my thoughts. Yesterday's action and reversal was important as our volatility measures - VIX and VXN - are at extreme levels... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, October 29, 2018 Early on Monday morning, it looked like stocks were trying to carve out a bottom, but by the afternoon, big time selling resumed and prior support levels were lost - all with rapidly rising volatility. That is a recipe for short-term stock market... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, October 26, 2018 All of our major indices finished lower on Friday and all of our major sectors did the same. It's difficult to paint a bullish picture after such selling, but I'm going to do just that. On Friday, despite selling... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, October 25, 2018 Obviously, the numbers from Thursday tell us that we had a very strong day. But the "under the surface" signals really underscored that strength. Transports ($TRAN) gained 1.88% after nearly touching the February low. Technology (XLK, +3.44%), communication services... READ MORE
Market Recap for October 24, 2018 When the Volatility Index ($VIX, +21.83%) is elevated, like it's been throughout much of October, it should be no shock when Wall Street has a day like it did yesterday. There was a buyers strike and the Dow Jones lost 500... READ MORE
Market Recap For October 23, 2018 It was a crazy day on Wall Street which, quite honestly, we should expect with a Volatility Index ($VIX) in the 20s. Jitters in global markets saw U.S. futures plunge yesterday morning. Our major indices opened more than 2% lower and it appeared... READ MORE