Market Recap for Thursday, May 10, 2018 It was a very bullish day on Wall Street. I suppose you could nit pick and point to utilities (XLU, +1.41%) outperforming on an up day, but it's difficult to ignore the solid participation during yesterday's rise. All... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, May 9, 2018 Was Wednesday the day that marked the resumption of the 9 year bull market? Some might argue it began with the bottom last week, while others might argue it hasn't begun because the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, May 8, 2018 There are days when the stock market seems to go nowhere and are relatively meaningless. Tuesday wasn't one of those days. While the Dow Jones and NASDAQ gained a measly 2.89 and 1.69 points, respectively, and the S&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, May 7, 2018 There was plenty of green on Monday, adding to the gains we saw late last week. The only areas of the market that struggled were the defensive consumer staples (XLP, -0.62%) and utilities (XLU, -0.52%). On the flip side, money rotated... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, May 4, 2018 For many weeks, we've seen the stock market seemingly ignore great earnings news and retreat. Highly visible companies like Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT), Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) gained initially after blowout earnings, then stumbled after traders attempted to figure out... READ MORE
Throughout 2017 the U.S. Dollar Index ($USD) was falling and aiding profits on multinational companies found on the S&P 500. But it was time for the dollar to rise, as evidenced by a surging U.S. 10 year treasury yield ($UST10Y) vs. Germany's 10 year... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, May 3, 2018 The Dow Jones was the only major index to finish in positive territory on Thursday, but it could have been so much worse. In the first 90 minutes of trading, the S&P 500 found itself back below 2600 and within just... READ MORE
Market Recap for May 2, 2018 Well, the Fed spoke and Wall Street listened. While there weren't any dire warnings from the Fed about inflation, simply acknowledging that inflation could be returning to its target 2% rate spooked traders for an afternoon. If you were wondering if the... READ MORE
Market Recap for May 1, 2018 The Dow Jones led the early selling on Tuesday as traders were not impressed with quarterly earnings results from two pharma giants, Pfizer (PFE, -3.31%) and Merck (MRK, -1.51%). Both were down considerably more in the morning session, but rebounded to make... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 30, 2018 Monday was a "rinse and repeat" session from Friday. We opened higher, sold off for 90 minutes, then consolidated the balance of the day. Since Thursday's close, the NASDAQ has fallen 0.75%, but it seems like much more... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 27, 2018 The news heading into Friday couldn't have been much better. The initial reading of Q1 GDP came in stronger than expected at 2.3% vs. 2.0%. We had blowout earnings from key leaders including Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 26, 2018 Two familiar areas - technology (XLK, +1.82%) and consumer discretionary (XLY, +1.62%) - saw money rotate their way on Thursday, with especially strong action in both internets ($DJUSNS, +4.11%) and semiconductors ($DJUSSC, +2.35%) leading the technology space. Discretionary stocks... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 25, 2018 Wall Street was able to find equity buyers yesterday, despite the 10 year treasury yield's ($TNX) first close above 3.00% since 2014. The Volatility Index ($VIX) settled back down after approaching 20 for the second consecutive day. It has closed... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Pre-market action on Tuesday was solid and that's just about where the bullishness ended. With the Kentucky Derby just around the corner, let me summarize Tuesday's action from the opening bell in different fashion: "And they're... READ MORE
Market Recap for April 23, 2018 A significant bullish breakout in the U.S. Dollar ($USD) occurred on Monday and the push higher is likely to just be beginning. Before I look at possible ramifications, let's look at the chart itself: Monday's close was the USD&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 20, 2018 The big news on Friday was the bond market. The 10 year treasury yield ($TNX) closed just a tad above 2.95% and that was the highest close since late-2013/early-2014. The TNX has climbed another couple basis points in early action this... READ MORE
One of the most over used cliches in the stock market, in my opinion, is "go away in May". First of all, it's simply bad investment advice. Since 1950 on the S&P 500, the May 1st to July 17th period has produced annualized returns... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 19, 2018 The U.S. stock market has been solid throughout April thus far, so seeing a Thursday drop of 0.57% and 0.78% on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, respectively, shouldn't be too alarming. And it wasn't.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 18, 2018 Our major indices showed signs of tiring on Wednesday as its seasonal pre-earnings run from April 1st to April 18th concluded. Five sectors managed to finish in positive territory, including the red-hot energy sector (XLE, +1.57%) and industrials (XLI, +1.04%). The... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 17, 2018 Futures were solid heading into Tuesday's pre-market action as Netflix reported stellar Q1 results after the closing bell on Monday. Then, on Tuesday morning, home construction ($DJUSHB) received great news as both March housing starts and building permits easily exceeded expectations.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 16, 2018 Utilities (XLU, +1.37%) and materials (XLB, +1.34%) led rather odd market behavior on Monday. The good news is that all nine sectors finished higher. The bad news is that our most aggressive sectors struggled on a relative basis. Financials (XLF, +0.... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 13, 2018 U.S. stocks fell on Friday the 13th, but managed to cut intraday losses in half (or more) during the final 45 minutes of the session. Most of our major indices lost roughly 0.50%, except for the benchmark S&P 500,... READ MORE
Note I write an article here in this blog each and every morning that the stock market is open. It's typically published during pre-market action, between 8:30am-9:00am EST. I've been doing it since September 2015 and I do my best to keep you up-to-date... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 11, 2018 Well, the S&P 500 tried to clear its 20 day EMA again. And it failed....again. That marks the 5th consecutive day of failed 20 day EMA breakouts. Given that futures are higher this morning, this benchmark index appears headed for... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, April 10, 2018 It seems like forever, but the energy sector ETF (XLE, +3.31%) finally did it - it closed above 69.00! Can we please say goodbye to the 66-69 trading range? I didn't realize this until yesterday, but the XLE'... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 9, 2018 Once again, Monday was the tale of two markets. The first half of the day was quite bullish, but it was all for naught as sellers stampeded the bulls in the afternoon session. Our major indices finished with across-the-board gains so if you... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, April 6, 2018 All nine sectors fell on Friday as the Dow Jones tumbled 572 points amid more threats of China tariffs by the White House. China has promised further retaliation if the U.S. remains adamant about imposing tariffs on China imports. This rhetoric back... READ MORE
The start of every quarter represents a big opportunity to me and the reason is simple. Historically, the odds favor a bullish move into earnings season. Before we consider which individual stocks might be poised for a solid advance, let's take a look at history and the Volatility... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, April 5, 2018 The latest recovery attempt continued into Thursday of this week, but weak futures this morning will provide yet one more obstacle for the bulls to overcome. I'll talk more about that in the Pre-Market Action section below. In the meantime, eight... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, April 4, 2018 Welcome back consumer stocks! One day certainly doesn't make a fresh new trend, but it's been awhile since consumer stocks led a rally. Consumer discretionary (XLY, +1.84%) and consumer staples (XLP, +1.56%) were atop the sector leaderboard... READ MORE
Special Note I typically post a blog article every day that the U.S. stock market is open. If you'd like to receive my blog articles as soon as they're published, you can subscribe (for FREE) by scrolling to the bottom of this article, typing your... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, April 2, 2018 It was a big down day on Wall Street with eight of nine sectors down 2% or more. Only the defensive utilities (XLU, -0.77%) were able to minimize its losses, with the more aggressive consumer discretionary (XLY, -2.82%) and technology (XLK,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 29, 2018 The energy ETF (XLE, +2.11%) surged off of key price support at 66.00 and there's reason to believe that this rally could last a bit longer. Crude oil prices ($WTIC) outperformed the XLE during the month of March and... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 28, 2018 The U.S. stock market settled down on Wednesday and that could be very good news for the bulls. High volatility ($VIX) has stunned equity traders the past two months after a 15 month period of little volatility. But on Wednesday, the VIX... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 27, 2018 I've discussed since early February the difficulty in trading a market with an elevated Volatility Index ($VIX). While returns can be awesome when you make great calls, the opposite is true when your timing is less than perfect. Here's... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 26, 2018 It was an impressive rally on Wall Street on Monday. All nine sectors advanced at least 1%. The four aggressive sectors - technology (XLK, +3.80%), financials (XLF, +3.24%), consumer discretionary (XLY, +2.95%) and industrials (XLI, +2.42%) - were the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 23, 2018 All of our major indices tumbled on Friday, but none are struggling quite the same as the Dow Jones, which fell another 425 points on Friday to close at its lowest level since November 2017. There are likely three reasons for this relative... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 22, 2018 Let me start today's article by saying that the stock market loathes uncertainty. Traders love boring small gains day after day with subtle, anticipated pullbacks to key moving averages or short-term price support levels. You can always tell when the stock... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 21, 2018 It was a volatile session on Wednesday, particularly after 2pm EST when the FOMC policy statement was released. In Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's first meeting as Fed Chief, the Fed raised the benchmark funds rate a quarter point from 1.50%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 20, 2018 There weren't huge gains on Tuesday, but given how poorly Monday went, I'd say yesterday was a very solid day. On Monday, we saw the Volatility Index ($VIX) spike more than 20% back above 19 as fear ramped up.... READ MORE