Stocks Positive For Month Despite Weakness

Hello traders everywhere. Although the stock market has slipped into the negative territory on the day all three indexes are looking to post a monthly gain for April. This will mark the first positive monthly gain in two months as volatility has taken a toll on the market over the last three months.

The S&P 500 is posting a monthly gain of +.75%; the DOW is looking to add slightly more to the bottom line with an increase of +.80%, in fact, the DOW hasn't had a losing April since April of 2005. The NASDAQ is posting the lowest monthly gain of +.18 as the tech sector has been under been under extreme pressure and volatility and with Apple (AAPL) earnings right around the corner it could get worse. All indications are that iPhone sells, although positive, are going to miss the mark as far as many analysts are concerned.

Stocks Positive For Month

The U.S. dollar continues to make a comeback with a monthly gain of +1.98%. After posting a weekly loss last week, Crude oil is closing out the month on a strong note and posting a +6% gain on the month. Meanwhile gold is looking so brilliant as it posts a loss of -.69% on the month.

Bitcoin continues to make a comeback, and it is going to have an impressive monthly gain of +31% for April. If you can ride the wave, it certainly can pay dividends. Continue reading "Stocks Positive For Month Despite Weakness"

Stock Market Waivers As GDP Growth Slows

Hello traders everywhere. The U.S. economy posted a 2.3% annual growth rate in the first quarter of 2018 as consumer spending turned in the weakest performance in nearly five years. However, the January-March increase came in better than expected, supporting hopes for a solid rebound for the rest of the year where analysts are looking for growth to surpass 3% once again.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gain in the gross domestic product (GDP), the economy's total output of goods and services, followed a 2.9% rise in the fourth quarter of 2017 and gains above 3% in the previous two quarters.

GDP Growth Slows

The DOW and NASDAQ are on pace to post a loss for the week overall after having two weeks of weekly gains, while the S&P 500 is sitting relatively unchanged for the week, although it is desperately close to posting a weekly loss as well.

The U.S. dollar is ending a strong week with a gain of 1.4% adding to the gains that it saw last week and looking to break 92.02 which would give us a new green monthly Trade Triangle indicating that the long-term trend is up for the dollar. Earlier in the week, Treasury yields broke above 3% on the week for the first time since 2014. But have since fallen on weak consumer spending data. Continue reading "Stock Market Waivers As GDP Growth Slows"

Interest Rates On The Rise

Hello traders everywhere. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has risen above 3% for the first time since January of 2014, signaling that higher interest rates are ahead for the U.S. bond market as the Federal Reserve is intent on boosting interest rates after keeping them at historically low levels for some time. The yield, the benchmark for everything from U.S. mortgages to dollar bonds in developing nations, climbed as high as 3.0014% in morning trading, before slipping back below 3% to 2.979% in the early afternoon.

As the 10-year yield broke three percent the stock market turned lower with the DOW losing over 1% on the day with the S&P 500 losing .80% and the NASDAQ falling 1.4% as tech is posting heavy losses.

Interest Rates Rise

Speaking of tech, the FAANG stocks are all lower on the day with Alphabet leading the way. Alphabet (Google) is posting a loss of over 4.5% on the day after reporting earnings where they made a lot of money, but investors are worried about rising expenses.

The other FAANG members are posting steep losses as well. Facebook declined 3.4%, Amazon 3.8%, Netflix declined 4.2% and Apple is losing just a tad over 1% on the day.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,553.80
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 23,344.52
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 6,805.90
Gold (NYMEX:GC.M18.E): 1,337.60
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.M18.E): 67.14
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.M18.E): 88.94
Bitcoin (CME:BRTI): 6,616.14

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com

Late Week Market Sell-Off Dampens Mood

Hello traders everywhere. Apple Inc. (AAPL) is leading declines in the technology sector which in turn is dragging down U.S. indexes ending what looked to be a positive week for stocks mid-week. Energy companies are also taking a bit of a hit from lower oil prices after President Donald Trump's criticism on OPEC in a tweet earlier in the morning saying that:

"Looks like OPEC is at it again. With record amounts of Oil all over the place, including the fully loaded ships at sea, Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted"!

Market Sell-Off

The S&P 500, DOW and NASDAQ are all trying to post small gains for the week overall, which would give the three indexes their first back to back weekly gains since mid-February.

The almighty dollar is ending a strong week with a gain of .58% erasing the losses that it saw last week on the back of rising interest rates. Treasury yields are headed toward 2.95% on the week. Continue reading "Late Week Market Sell-Off Dampens Mood"

It's All About Corporate Earnings

Hello traders everywhere. It's all about corporate earnings this week vs. the geopolitical tensions of the past few weeks to a month. Gone are the talks of trade tariffs and possible conflicts as the markets turn to outstanding earnings reports from the big names in tech and the big banks.

This push higher this week has given life to the markets and helped the both the DOW and S&P 500 issue new green weekly Trade Triangles indicating that the projected long-term downtrend has moved to a sidelines position based on the Chart Analysis Scores. We will now turn our attention to the next major hurdle and that's the issuance of new green monthly Trade Triangles for both indexes.

As for the NASDAQ, it too issued a new green weekly Trade Triangle signaling that the long-term trend has resumed and is looking to head higher based on a strong Chart Analysis Score of +100.

Syria Fears Ease

Crude oil continues higher hitting a new high this month, it's the highest level since 2014. The reason for the gains today is an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that showed shrinking American petroleum surpluses and the first crude withdrawal from the largest U.S. storage complex in six weeks. The U.S. draw-downs underlined optimism that an OPEC-led effort to curb global supplies will be reinforced later this week when the cartel and allied producers gather in Saudi Arabia. Continue reading "It's All About Corporate Earnings"