Weekly Gains On Tap For Stocks

Hello traders everywhere. For the first time in a few weeks, the stocks market is looking to post strong weekly gains. Friday morning kicked off with a bang as all three indexes were posting their strongest weeks since early March, but the push higher didn't last as the afternoon hit. However, it looks like they will all post weekly gains over 2% on the week. The S&P 500 and DOW both triggered new green weekly Trade Triangles on the recent market strength, but both still have red monthly Trade Triangles indicating that the overall long-term trend is still weak.

Is the dollars run over? After posting two weeks of over 1% gains, the dollar is posting its first weekly loss in three weeks with a loss of around -.10%. While it's not a huge loss, it does signal that some weakness has entered the arena after weaker than expected US inflation figures for April were reported.

Weekly Gains On Tap For Stocks

Crude oil has backed up last weeks gains with a +1.8% gain this week and continuing to trade above the $71 level. The move higher was exacerbated by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which caused concerns over potential supply disruptions down the road. Look for oil prices head higher as bulls exploit geopolitics to power the rally, but the question is, for how long?

Gold has jumped higher on the dollars recent weakness. After three straight weeks or significant losses gold is looking to close out the week higher with a +.50% gain. With geopolitical tensions gaining strength and a weakening dollar look for gold to head higher from here potentially.

Bitcoin continues to be trapped in a tight trading range, and it is posting its first weekly loss after four straight weeks of gains with a loss of -11.9%. As I've been highlighting, the 200-day MA is proving to be a tough level of resistance for Bitcoin to break and with this weeks loss the 50-day MA level of support at 8,262.19 is close to being broken to the downside.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

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Oil Lifts Energy Stocks After US Exits Iran Deal

Hello traders everywhere. After a weak opening crude oil has provided the catalyst to lead the stock market higher driven by the energy sector. The move higher follows President Donald Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, which he announced yesterday. President Trump said that the U.S. would be walking away from the Iran deal and that sanctions on the Middle Eastern country would be reinstated.

"It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement," Trump said from the White House Diplomatic Room. "The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing we know exactly what will happen."

After the announcement, the stock market finished Tuesday trading mixed to unchanged with oil being the big loser dropping -1.37% on the day. The move higher today was delayed, but once it kicked in oil hit a new three and a half year high of $71.36 gaining over +2% on the day.

Oil Lifts Energy Stocks

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

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Energy Stocks Boost Wall Street

Hello traders everywhere. I'm doing something a little different today by doing this mid-day video after the close. The reason? As I was preparing, President Trump said he would announce his decision on the Iran nuclear deal at 2 PM EDT on Tuesday. The DOW had been up as much as 219 points on the day before reversing course on the announcement. So with that news affecting the markets, I decided to hold off and see where we landed.

With that being said, overall the stock market finished up on the day with the S&P 500 up +.35%, DOW +.39% and the NASDAQ leading the way with a +.79% being pushed by Amazon and Netflix.

Energy Stocks

But the real market driver today was that oil and the energy sector. Crude oil traded as high as $70.76. That's the highest level since 2014, before it backed off the high to close at $69.89 +.17% on the day.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

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Apple and Buffett Push Stock Market Higher

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks are on the rise with a sharp mover higher buoyed by news that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought an additional 75 million shares of Apple Inc. in the first quarter of this year. That makes Berkshire the third-largest investor according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In an interview on CBNC with Becky Quick, Buffet said that Apple has "a wide, wide gap. I mean it's an amazing business. You can put all of their products on a dining room table."

That news drove Apple to an all-time of $183.87 a share, gaining over 3.5% on the day. Buffett's announcement came just days after Apple reported quarterly sales and profit that topped analysts' estimates on surging services as revenue rose at the fastest pace in more than two years.

Apple Buffett Push Stock Market Higher

The Labor Department reported on Friday that Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs last month, falling short of the estimated 192,000 jobs that analysts were expecting. Data for March was revised up to show the economy adding 135,000 jobs instead of the previously reported 103,000. That was the fewest amount of jobs created in six months and followed the big gain of 324,000 in February. Continue reading "Apple and Buffett Push Stock Market Higher"

Stocks Fall Ahead Of Fed Announcement

Hello traders everywhere. Overall the U.S. stock market is trading lower on the day after a slow opening and trading lower on the week. The reason for today's soft open is the Fed, which is set to release its latest monetary policy decision at 2 p.m. ET. Market expectations for a May rate hike are just 5.7%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The NASDAQ is the only index in the green, but that is solely due to Apple. Apple is a cash generating machine rising +4% after it posted resilient iPhone sales in the face of waning global demand and promised $100 billion in additional stock buybacks. But the real surprise was the service revenue with total paid subscriptions reaching 270 million, that's up by 100 million from a year ago.

Fed Announcement

We finally got the green monthly Trade Triangle on the U.S. dollar as it passed through the $92 level hitting new 3 month highs and trading up a little over 1% on the week. The U.S. two-year Treasury yields hit a 9-1/2-year high after data showed U.S. private-sector payrolls for April came roughly in line with market forecasts, cementing expectations for a rate increase in June.

Bitcoin is up .2% on the day but is still stuck in a tight trading range. For the last 12 days, it's been trapped between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. It needs to make a move above the 200-day MA, which currently stands at the 9,956.44 level, to break out to the upside. Continue reading "Stocks Fall Ahead Of Fed Announcement"