[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets While the major indexes closed in the green to start the week, the gains were minor despite the Nasdaq scoring back to back record closes. The S&P 500 managed to notch a new intra-day high but slipped into the close barely finding support above the unchanged line. The index has now reached an …
Markets Under Pressure
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets The markets came under pressure this morning with the Dow dropping some 250 points right at the opening. 3M was the contributor to this downside move as earnings disappointed, but more importantly, the company slashed forward guidance for 2019 and reduced its workforce by 2,000. The punishment was immediate with the stock skidding …
Digesting Yesterday’s Gains
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Last Monday, I wrote how the direction of bond yields affects the performance of low volatility ETFs, such as SPLV, compared to the underlying index. Here’s what I said: Case in point is the S&P 500, represented by SPY, which managed to eke out a gain of +0.10% during today’s session. It’s conservative …
Upside Breakout
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets When markets get stuck in a tight sideways trading range, as we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks, a breakout, either to the downside or upside, will transpire sooner or later. It may not always be clear what causes such a breakout, but it occurred today with the bulls taking charge and …
Stuck In A Sideways Pattern
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets The major indexes took an early dive before slowly rebounding in an attempt to crawl back above their respective unchanged lines. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq succeeded in that effort by a tiny margin, while the Dow just fell short. It was a repeat performance of what we saw all last week with …
Nearing Record Highs—On The Lowest Volume In Months
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets The major indexes, led by the Dow, made another attempt at breaking into record territory but failed with upward momentum lacking. Trading volume was the lowest in months meaning there was not much conviction to drive the markets higher. The theme was a repeat of what we’ve seen over the past five trading …