28
Nov
2013

Sector Detector: Is there still enough fuel in the bulls’ tank?

Scott MartindaleAs stock traders take a break for Thanksgiving, all the major averages have hit new highs after breaking through psychological resistance levels, including the S&P 500 at 1800, Dow Jones Industrials at 16,000, and NASDAQ at 4000. Tech stocks were the big leaders on Wednesday after a strong earnings report from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

Author: smartindale / Tag: iShares, sectors, ETF, SPY, VIX, MPC, HPQ, iyw, IYF, IYE, IYM, IYZ, IYJ, IYH, IYK, IYC, IDU, BLK, AWH, WDC, GOOG, JAZZ, GNW, ALK, NXPI / 0 Comments
25
Nov
2013

What the Market Wants: One Mini-Step for Mankind

Today, Thanksgiving week was greeted with a marginally up day by the markets with the NASDAQ reaching a new high of 4007 before falling back below 4000 to close up nearly 3 points at 3995.57.  The S&P 500 reached a new all-time high at 1808.58 before ending the day down a little over 2 points at 1802.48.

Author: david / Tag: UAL, JAZZ, ARRS / 0 Comments
21
Nov
2013

Sector Detector: Stocks retrench for another assault on round-number resistance

Scott Martindale“Stocks fall on Fed taper discussion.” That’s the gist of what you heard in the media on Wednesday to account for the market’s late-day pullback. There’s always some sort of attempt to explain daily market action. But the reality is that investors simply must take a periodic breather to regroup and retrench, particularly when making an assault on round-number resistance for a major index.

Author: smartindale / Tag: sectors, iShares, ETF, SPY, VIX, TSLA, MA, SBNY, CACI, QCOM, JAZZ, GNW, ALK, IYF, iyw, IYK, IYH, IYE, IYM, IYJ, IYZ, IDU, IYC / 0 Comments
18
Nov
2013

Turning point for Consumer Discretionary Sector?

The S&P 500 seemed to hit a wall at 1800, retreating after the all-time, but rebounded to close only 0.38% down. It could be just a pause or it could be a bit more serious due the plethora of earnings reports this week from the Consumer Discretionary sector.  Today, URBN began what will be a veritable deluge of retail sector earnings reports this week

Author: david / Tag: BX, ACT, NUS / 0 Comments
14
Nov
2013

Sector Detector: Bulls seek entry point to launch year-end rally

Scott MartindaleThe U.S. stock market has been reluctant to provide eager bulls with a tasty entry point ahead of the much anticipated year-end rally. Although the major indexes have seen fit to consolidate a bit and work off some of their overbought conditions, bulls have hoped for a something more substantial. But very few holders are selling these days.

Author: smartindale / Tag: iShares, ETF, sectors, EEM, TLT, SPY, VIX, IYF, iyw, IYK, IYC, IYH, IYM, IYE, IYJ, IDU, IYZ, GOOG, MDSO, ASPS, V, TDIV, QABA, HOLX, TSLA, SZYM, JAZZ, STX, AL, ALK, GNW, NXPI / 0 Comments
11
Nov
2013

What the Market Wants: Slow Market Growth Continues: Consider BCOR, JBLU, PRU

Today, the markets barely moved all day; the bond markets were closed for Armistice Day; and there were no scheduled government reports. Volume was nearly negligible, so it’s very difficult to draw any conclusions from today. 

Author: david / Tag: SPY BCOR JBLU PRU / 0 Comments
04
Nov
2013

What the Market Wants: One Way to Play This Market

Today, the SPY index closed at new highs while the S&P 500 was not able to make a new high, but closed strong, up about 0.3% on the day. The Russell 2000 (RUT) rebounded from a very weak performance over the past two weeks due to profit taking.  Today, it rose 1.15%, but volume was below average.

Author: david / Tag: SDS, RUT, WHR, MTH, ARRS / 0 Comments