Category: Trading Videos

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks swung between small gains and losses Friday after figures showed the U.S. economy grew at a strong rate in the first quarter but the pace of consumer and business spending slowed. First-quarter gross domestic product was 3.2%, the Commerce Department said on Friday, topping the consensus economist estimate of 2.5%, according to Dow Jones. An increase in exports drove the increase. The better-than-expected print was driven by a rise in exports.

On a weekly level, the S&P 500 gained +.82% and was on track for another weekly advance. The S&P 500 sits just below Tuesday's record and is up 17% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also climbed 0.1% after entering the day 1.4% below last year's record but will finish the week in negative territory losing -.32%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1% and, as the S&P 500, was just below its record from earlier in the week and will post a weekly gain of +1.38%.

The U.S. dollar will back to back weekly gains with a gain of +.58% this week. Continue reading "Market Stalls At The End Of Record Week" →

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks are struggling to gain footing in the positive territory a day after the S&P 500 and NASDAQ both posted record closes. The NASDAQ itself set a new intra-day day high of $8,139.55 before retreating into and out of negative territory on the day. The S&P 500 is just 0.3% away from an intra-day record high of 2,940.91 which it hit on Sept. 21, 2018, after surging about 17% this year.

The move higher came less than six months after a massive drop in December, which led to Wall Street's worst year since the financial crisis. But a pivot by the Federal Reserve in monetary policy away from higher rates and the cooling of trade tensions between China and the U.S. helped stocks rally from those lows.

The DOW entered the day 0.6% below last October's all-time high but has failed to get out of negative territory today. There is still a slew of corporate earnings coming this week so look for the DOW to make a run at its own record high later this week. Continue reading "Stocks Struggle After Day Of Records" →

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks struggled Monday as Wall Street braced for the busiest week of the earnings season. The DOW fell 40 points, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were little changed.

More than 140 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to release their quarterly results this week, including Coca Cola (KO), Procter & Gamble (PG), United Technologies (UTX), Verizon (VZ), Twitter (TWTR), Lockheed Martin (LMT), and eBay (EBAY). Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA) Motors are also set to report later this week.

So far, the majority of corporate earnings reports have topped expectations. FactSet data shows 76.5% of the S&P 500 companies that have posted earnings have surpassed analyst estimates. Analysts came into the season with low expectations for the season, forecasting a 4.2% drop in profits.

Crude oil is trading at it's highest levels since October of 2018 and is currently trading above $65 a barrel. The reason for the spike higher is that the United States demanded a cut off of Iranian oil exports to major importers like China and India who had been granted exemptions from sanctions, that statement rekindled fears that this by the U.S. could lead to a supply crunch. Continue reading "Stocks Flat Ahead Of A Big Earnings Week" →

Hello traders everywhere. The NASDAQ hit a record high of $8,052.40 in early trading as market sentiment was lifted by stronger-than-expected corporate earnings and solid economic data out of China. China's economy grew at a steady 6.4% pace in the first quarter, defying expectations for a further slowdown, adding to optimism that the economy may be starting to stabilize even as Beijing and Washington appear moving closer to a trade deal.

On this side of the trade conversation, The U.S. trade deficit fell to an eight-month low in February as imports from China plunged, suggesting President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda was starting to bear fruit. Continue reading "NASDAQ Hits Record High As China Steadies" →

Hello traders everywhere. Earnings season started with a bang early Friday as two major U.S. banks shared better than expected Q1 results which propelled the market higher at the open. The S&P 500 pushed above $2,900 for the first time since October of 2018, the DOW up over 290 pts in early trading and is trying to post a weekly gain after being quiet for much of the week and the NASDAQ continues to march higher gaining +.47% on the week making this three straight weeks of gains.

JPMorgan Chase earned $2.65 a share in the first quarter, easily beating third-party consensus estimates of $2.35. Revenue—which many analysts had expected to decline—rose 5% to $29.9 billion as the company appeared to benefit from higher interest rates and strength in consumer banking. Shares rose more than 2.5% in pre-market trading.

Wells Fargo was the other big bank reporting early Friday, and its results also topped third-party consensus. Earnings per share of $1.20 beat the average estimate of $1.10, while revenue of $21.6 billion out-performed the average estimate of $20.99 billion. Shares climbed about 2% right after the company released results.

The U.S. dollar retreated as the week ended with investors dumping haven assets turning to riskier assets like stocks after a strong round of earnings releases. The dollar will post a weekly loss of -.48% Continue reading "Big Banks Boost Stock Market" →