Stocks End Week Lower

Hello traders everywhere. The weak finish by the stock market in August continued this week ending with all three indexes in negative territory. The S&P 500 is down almost 1% at -.97, the DOW is down -.33% and the NASDAQ suffered the worse loss of the three losing -2.1% as tech witnessed a significant sell-off, most notably in the social media segment.

Stocks End Week Lower

The U.S. Dollar has bucked its recent trend this week by gaining +.36% on the week making that its first positive week in a month. However, oil and gold followed the overall markets and lost -3.31% and -.53% respectively.

But the biggest loser of the week was Bitcoin, which lost -10.5% on the week. One reason for the sell-off was news in the middle of the week that Goldman Sachs delayed the launch of a Bitcoin trading desk for their customers.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

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Stocks End August Mixed on Trade Concerns

Hello traders everywhere. While August has been a strong month for stocks overall the stocks market is ending the month on a weak note with the exception of the NASDAQ, which continues to make gains on the back of Apple and Amazon which have kept Nasdaq slightly higher today.

Despite Friday's declines, Wall Street is set to conclude a bullish month. The DOW and the S&P 500 remain on track for their best August since 2014; the NASDAQ was poised to clinch its best August since 2000. The indexes were up 2%, 3% and 5.5% for the month as we head into the closing bell.

Trade Concerns

Early this week was a report that President Donald Trump was ready to impose tariffs on $200 billion more of Chinese goods as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends next week. The United States is also working to settle differences on a pact to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by a Friday deadline. Continue reading "Stocks End August Mixed on Trade Concerns"

Amazon, Apple and NASDAQ Hit Record Highs

Hello traders everywhere. As we near the end of the summer trading season the NASDAQ is hitting all-time highs each day being propelled by gains in tech which have been led by Amazon and Apple today. The NASDAQ traded over the $8,100 level in early trading and is currently posting about and .80% gain on the day. Will it close out the day at a new record high?

Both companies are hitting record highs as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) shares rose 1.4% after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock, predicting a $1.2 trillion valuation for the company. Analyst Brian Nowak said Amazon's advertising, subscription and cloud businesses "will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions."

Amazon Apple

Meanwhile, Apple Inc. (AAPL) is continuing it's month-long march higher which now stands at over +16% on the month. This mover higher is largely due to Apple's services segment which reported sales that reached a record high of $9.5 billion in its recent quarter, up 31% from a year earlier. The services segment currently accounts for 13% of Apple's total revenue. But let's not forget that the company is gearing up for its biggest iPhone launch in four years with expectations to ship 70 million to 75 million units of its 12th-generation iPhone models by the end of the year. That would be Apple's biggest launch since the iPhone 6 series in late 2014.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

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Powell Stays The Course Propelling Stocks Higher

Hello traders everywhere. Speaking at the central banks annual Jackson Hole retreat, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank's current approach to interest rate hikes were the best way to protect the U.S. economic recovery. In turn, that statement sent the S&P 500 and NASDAQ to record highs in early trading with the NASDAQ hitting $7,949.25 and the S&P 500 hitting $2,876.16. Are the $8,000 and $3,000 levels on tap for next week?

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

Powell's speech caused the U.S. dollar to retreat further after having a rough week to begin with and now losing over -1% for the week. That move lower gave room for the precious metals, namely gold and silver, and crude oil to head higher. That triggered a new green weekly Trade Triangle for oil indicating that the commodity could be heading higher. But it still has some work o do to break out of the channel that it's been trapped in.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

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Trade Triangles Hit The Target

Hello traders everywhere. Target Corporation (TGT) posted its strongest sales growth in more than a decade posting a 6.5% increase in the second quarter of this year, and the stock price jumped more than 5% in early trading. As my headline states, the Trade Triangles hit the target when it came to Target. A green monthly Trade Triangle was issued a little over a year ago at the $58.65 and with Target trading at $87.44 that's a +48% increase!

Now I'm not going to lie to you and say that I took this trade and made a significant profit, cause I didn't. I remember looking at the Trade Triangle list as I do every day and I saw Target on the list, and I passed on it. At that time I was of the thinking that brick and mortar retail just didn't fit into my trading thoughts as it was struggling. This is indeed a lesson in not overlooking a market because of how you feel about a particular sector.

target

We finally got the record high from the S&P 500 that we've been waiting for with it hitting an all-time high of $2,873.23 before backing off that high and eeking out a +.2% gain on the day. Today the stock market is mixed to unchanged after hitting the record, and that's mostly due to political uneasiness surrounding President Donald Trump and a growing tariff worry as many of the imposed tariffs are starting to affect businesses.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

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