Market Recap for Monday, March 19, 2018 Ok, let's start with the obvious. It was an ugly day for U.S. equities. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 fell 1.35%, 1.42%, 1.84% and 0.98%, respectively. The Volatility Index ($VIX)... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 16, 2018 There was an industry-wide rally in energy stocks (XLE, +0.89%) on Friday and utilities (XLU, +0.88%) also performed well. The latter looks much better technically, however, as it has broken above its 50 day SMA. There's still much work... READ MORE
The NASDAQ Composite and NASDAQ 100 became the first two key indices to break to fresh all-time highs and their 2018 relative strength can be underscored by this chart: The NASDAQ 100 is seeing money rotate its way in 2018 so it's prudent to focus on this index... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 15, 2018 It was just another day of bifurcated action on Wall Street. But this time it featured a strengthening Dow Jones. The Dow gained 0.47%, while the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 fell 0.08%, 0.20% and 0.49%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 14, 2018 The U.S. stock market continued its bifurcated ways on Wednesday. While all of our major indices declined, it was not across-the-board selling. The Dow Jones (-1.00%) saw the brunt of the selling, while the NASDAQ Composite (-0.19%) outperformed by a... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 13, 2018 It appears to be a case of "too much of a good thing". Technology stocks (XLK, -1.15%) retreated off of a 60 minute negative divergence and that reverberated throughout most parts of the NASDAQ (-1.02%), which led our major... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 12, 2018 While we saw bifurcated action on Monday, it was still mostly bullish action. For starters, the more aggressive NASDAQ (+0.36%) and Russell 2000 (+0.25%) finished in positive territory while the safer indices - Dow Jones (-0.62%) and S&P... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 9, 2018 The U.S. stock market was back to its old bull market tricks on Friday as the NASDAQ powered 133 points higher (+1.79%) to close at 7560.81 - its highest ever - and end its correction that began with the high... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 8, 2018 It's never a great signal to see the stock market rally and the three defensive sectors - consumer staples (XLP, +0.91%), utilities (XLU, +0.74%) and healthcare (XLV, +0.67%) - sit atop the sector leaderboard. But we also shouldn&... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, March 7, 2018 It was a day of bifurcation, but it was good bifurcation - if that makes any sense. When the stock market jury is split as we saw on Wednesday, I prefer that our aggressive market areas perform well and defensive areas lag. Well,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, March 6, 2018 Materials (XLB, +1.10%) and consumer discretionary (XLY, +0.69%) led a modest stock market rally here in the U.S. on Tuesday. The small cap Russell 2000 gained more than 1% to once again outperform its larger cap counterparts. The NASDAQ also... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 5, 2018 The Dow Jones surged on Monday, gaining 337 points (+1.37%) to lead all of our major indices higher. Two stalwarts - Caterpillar (CAT, +3.24%) and Boeing (BA, +2.34%) - were the leaders, but we saw 29 of the 30 Dow... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, March 2, 2018 The Dow Jones finished with a 71 point loss on Friday, thanks in part to another very weak performance by McDonalds (MCD). Apparently, their $1, $2, $3 menu is falling short of expectations and it's clearly reflected in recent price action.... READ MORE
THE Question Is this a correction within a bull market or is it the beginning of a bear market? That is THE question that everyone is debating and hoping to answer correctly. There's no crystal ball to know for sure the correct answer. However, the market does provide... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, March 1, 2018 Any time the Volatility Index ($VIX) rises 13%, it's not going to be a great day on Wall Street. Fear equals selling and selling is exactly what we saw on Thursday. There was a bit of a late day rally, but... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 28, 2018 Outside of the final two hours on Wednesday, it was a fairly boring day. We gapped higher at the open, sold off to fill the gap, and then moved back into positive territory.....until the final two hours. Selling returned in a big... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 27, 2018 During a day filled with renewed selling, especially in the final 10 minutes, there were 3 key takeways as far as I'm concerned. First, the short-term uptrend appeared to have been broken at the end of the day as gap, price... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, March 26, 2018 Monday was a very solid day for U.S. equities. All of our major indices roared to higher levels, led by the 400 point gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU). Eight of nine sectors advanced, with only the defensive utilities group... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 23, 2018 After a steady diet of afternoon flops recently, our major indices soared into Friday's close, clearing important overhead resistance in the process. All major indices finished with 1% gains or more, setting the stage for what could be a very solid... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 22, 2018 U.S. indices continued to tread water on Thursday, with mixed action among our major indices and sectors. The Dow Jones posted a triple digit gain (165 points), but the more aggressive NASDAQ and Russell 2000 indices both fell fractionally. Volatility ($VIX) subsided... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Well, the U.S. stock market was humming right along.....until the FOMC minutes were released at 2pm EST. Take a look at this intraday chart on the Dow Jones and S&P 500 and I think you'll fairly quickly... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 20, 2018 Selling returned to Wall Street as its six day winning streak came to an end. The Dow Jones was easily the biggest loser as Walmart, Inc (WMT) disappointed traders with its latest quarterly earnings report and had its worst trading day in many... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 16, 2018 On the surface, Friday's action didn't seem all that bad. While there was bifurcated action, three of our four major indices did finish in positive territory. The aggressive small cap Russell 2000 ($RUT) led the advance. Only the NASDAQ... READ MORE
Fear ramped up with the early February selling and a capitulatory bottom (at least short-term) printed. The Volatility Index ($VIX) doesn't hit the 40-50 zone often and, when it does, it typically coincides with a panicked selloff and bottom. The last time we saw panicked selling (before the... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 15, 2018 Selling is inevitable during bull markets. After each leg higher, there's typically a period of selling/consolidation. The bulls were spoiled for several months, as the bull market advance continued nearly uninterrupted. There really hadn't been any notable selling... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 14, 2018 Wall Street sure did look like it was heading for a very rough day at 8:30am EST on Wednesday. Very poor economic news hit traders with a 1-2 punch as the consumer price index jumped 0.5% instead of the 0.3%... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 13, 2018 The U.S. stock market settled down on Tuesday, trading in a much narrower range, and finished with gains across its major indices for the third consecutive day. While it was good to see the market stabilize after such panicked selling, there remains... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 12, 2018 Wall Street saw more gains on Monday, continuing the strength we saw late during the Friday session. Most of the strength, however, came during the morning session as the benchmark S&P 500 hit 2660, rising 130 points or approximately 5%, off... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 9, 2018 For the first time in 18 months, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all closed out a week beneath their rising 20 week EMAs. After not seeing a meaningful pullback (more than 3%) for well over a year, our major... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 8, 2018 For now, forget about the strong earnings season that we just witnessed. Also, forget about bond yields rising, which I view as a very bullish development generally-speaking as it allows money to rotate from the more defensive bond market to the more aggressive... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, February 7, 2018 With the exception of a fractional gain in the small cap Russell 2000, late day selling resulted in losses on each of our major indices. The Dow Jones spent much of the day in positive territory and sported a 270 point gain with... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, February 6, 2018 Volatility is the name of the game right now and big swings - both up and down - should be expected in the near-term. Yesterday was the bulls' turn as our major indices rallied back, led by the Dow Jones' 567... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, February 5, 2018 What a day and especially what a final hour! It was very reminiscent of selling episodes in 2008 where our major indices were losing a percent every few minutes. From a bullish perspective, there's little defense from panicked selling other than... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, February 2, 2018 It was an ugly day on Wall Street. In fact, it was the ugliest day on Wall Street since June 24, 2016, when the Dow Jones last fell more than 600 points. Friday's drop was 665 points and the technical damage... READ MORE
Identifying The Candidates I've included the month-by-month seasonal information for all NASDAQ 100 ($NDX) stocks in an Excel spreadsheet. In an effort to identify the best seasonal stocks on the NDX, I first considered the number of years history for each stock. For instance, I eliminated JD.com... READ MORE
Market Recap for Thursday, February 1, 2018 We saw a lot of bifurcation in the market on Thursday. The more aggressive NASDAQ and Russell 2000 rebounded and finished in positive territory, while both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell on the session. Four sectors finished higher, while... READ MORE
Market Recap for Wednesday, January 31, 2018 Following the heavy selling on Tuesday, the bulls were just hoping to stop the bleeding. I'd say they had some success as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all finished in positive territory. Overall action was bifurcated, however,... READ MORE
Market Recap for Tuesday, January 30, 2018 This day was a long time coming. The U.S. stock market's uninterrupted surge to record all-time highs day after day, week after week and month after month needed a break. It needed relief. Yesterday that relief was found....and it... READ MORE
Market Recap for Monday, January 29, 2018 We saw something different in the U.S. stock market on Monday. We closed in negative territory on all of our major indices and we closed at or near lows for the day. There was little or no bargain hunting at the end... READ MORE
Market Recap for Friday, January 26, 2018 The bears were absolutely stymied on Friday as the major indices surged to unprecedented levels. Despite the very overbought conditions that have persisted on many indices for four months now, bulls dominated the action and show no signs of letting up. When you... READ MORE