Tag: S&P 500 (CME:SP500)

Befriend The December Volatility!

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


As we roll through the second week of December, the markets seem to be going a little crazy as the year comes to an end. From January 1st until November 28th of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 7.02% while the S&P 500 was up 10.6%. But, over the first week and a half of December, the Dow has lost 1.68% while the broader S&P 500 has fallen 2.04%.

Furthermore, the bulk of those declines came earlier this week when the markets closed lower Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And not only did the major indexes end the sessions off the mark, but their intraday lows put the indexes down by more than 1.25% on two of the three trading sessions.

The downward pressure being felt earlier this week could easily be blamed on a number of things which I am sure they were by many of the pundits out there; oil prices falling, oil prices rising, issues in Europe and Draghi not doing enough, slowing growth in Asia, weak growth numbers here at home, a poor start to the holiday shopping season, the list could go on and on. But, I personally don't believe any of those reasons are why the market has recently been falling.

The December Dive

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The Most Important Stock To Watch This Month Is...

Posted on by admin

By: John Kosar of Street Authority

All major U.S. indices closed higher for the fourth consecutive week, this time led by the small-cap Russell 2000, which was up 1.2%. Year to date, however, the Russell has by far been the weakest, up just 0.9%. This puts the burden for continued broad market leadership squarely on the other traditional market leader -- technology.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 has been up to the challenge so far, posting a 13.7% gain year to date, and is a major reason why the SP 500 is up 8.4% in 2014. But with small caps already weak, if and when technology stocks stop leading, the overall market is likely to run into some serious problems.

My own metric, which is based on ETF asset flows, shows that the largest inflow of sector-related investor assets last week was into defensive utilities and out of industrials. Accordingly, last week's strongest sector was utilities, up 2%, with industrials the only sector to finish the week in negative territory.

Be Aware Of September Seasonal Weakness

As we move into September, a good place to begin this week's report is with monthly seasonality. The chart shows that September is the seasonally weakest month of the year in the SP 500 since 1957. On average, it closed 0.68% lower for the month and posted a negative monthly close 54% of the time.

This is one of several good reasons to pay particularly close attention to your stock market investments this month, and to have a defensive plan already in place in case this 56-year seasonal pattern emerges again this year.

We should also note the historical tendency for a strong fourth-quarter rebound, so even if the market does correct this month, we should be looking for near-term weakness to potentially provide better intermediate-term buying opportunities. Continue reading "The Most Important Stock To Watch This Month Is..." →

Beware of Equity Markets Going Nowhere Fast

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, President of INO.com and co-creator of MarketClub, with your video update for Monday, the 28th of April.

The current equity markets are proving to be frustrating for many traders as there has been no clear-cut direction for some time. Many of the indices are still in a trading range and could be making major tops. Don't forget, this bull market is now in its fifth year and is getting long in the tooth.

Like many investors, I am still very much concerned about events in Europe and the Ukraine. I think this is contributing to a large part of the indecision in the markets, causing them to move up one day and down next day.

Certainly there has been positive news for stocks, with earnings for many companies looking very good. There is also some disturbing news of a potential slowdown in Europe, along with some not-so-rosy guidance by several companies.

So what's an investor to do?

Continue reading "Beware of Equity Markets Going Nowhere Fast" →

Big Pictures: Stocks, Gold and the Miners

Posted on by admin

Ukraine war hype, China demand drop, GOFO mysteries… these are the short term noise inputs on the gold sector.

US Treasury bond yield spreads, gold vs. commodities (i.e. the 'real' price of gold), gold vs. the stock market… these are some of the fundamental considerations that actually matter and they have taken a hit since January.

It is easy to say 'I am bullish in the big picture' (measured in years) but it is not so easy to actively manage in the smaller pictures (measured in days, weeks and months) with all of the above noise inputs and more bombarding the poor individual player.

We use shorter term charts to manage the shorter time frames.  Daily charts have most recently indicated a bearish set up as bear flags formed across the precious metals complex (with the exception of silver, which never got going to begin with) last week.  Weekly charts continue to indicate that an extended and oh so grinding bottom may be forming, but that includes the potential for ups and downs, also known as volatility. Continue reading "Big Pictures: Stocks, Gold and the Miners" →

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Misses And The Train Wreck Continues

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, President of INO.com and co-creator of MarketClub, with your video update for Friday, the 11th of April.

The market was a little caught off guard this morning when JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) announced their earnings, which not only disappointed investors, but missed expectations by 19%. That's a lot like playing golf and missing a sure fire birdie putt.

Yesterday's market action really set the tone and the perception for today. Make no mistake about it, yesterday was a big and important day to a lot of traders.

I have talked about this many times before on this blog and that is the power of perception. The perception now in many traders' minds is that this is going to be more of a two-way street in the marketplace for stocks. Some stocks will do well, while others will fall as the perception of their growth fades in traders' minds. Continue reading "JPMorgan Chase & Co. Misses And The Train Wreck Continues" →