Greece is the Word!
That's Greece as in the country, not "Grease" as in the play. Blow-out earnings from the likes of AMZN, MSFT, our SNDK and even the launch of the AAPL iPad have not been enough to move the market higher. We had a huge GDP report this morning, showing the economy grew 5.7%, which is the highest growth rate since 2003 which did move the futures higher. That was then piggybacked by the Chicago PMI coming in at a higher than forecast rate of 61.5 (57.4 expected). A reading above 50 indicates growth in the midwest region. Even the Michigan sentiment survey came in h
Waiting on the Fed
After some intial volatility, the market is treading water waiting on the Fed announcement at 2:15pm est. The expectation would be for a little more volatililty following the announcement as many will be dissecting every word in the statement. However, it would be difficult to imagine any meaningful move prior to the "State of the Union" address this evening.
Waiting on the Fed, President Obama
The expected bounce that was mentioned in the weekend podcast continued in the first half of trade on Tuesday only to disappear into the close. The market is waiting to hear from the FOMC on Wednesday afternoon and then President Obama gives the "State of the Union" address on Wednesday evening. Little change is expected from the Fed, however as we have seen lately the market now becomes very nervous every time President Obama speaks as his recent appearances are sounding anti-Wall Stree and the policies anti-business. The market bounce ran out of gas at the
Midday Update
What you watch for after an important support/resistance level has been broken is the testing process. We talked about that intra-day yesterday. We are now watching for the close today. The market made one attempt to run back to that 1120 level only to be met with more sellers. It certainly didn't help today with the government making waves once again, this time postponing the vote to confirm Bernanke for another term. Talk about uncertainty....the market will not respond well if Bernanke is not confirmed. This noise out of Washington is starting to feel
Strike One
As you are aware, the market closed below 1120 and on higher volume with that VIX breaking above resistance to boot! Not a promising day for the upside. However, as mentioned earlier it takes two closes to be meaningful so tomorrow is very important. GOOG had good numbers, but the sell the news trade continued as GOOG was down big after hours. Even AMD had absolutely blow-out numbers and even it traded lower after hours. The market hates uncertainty and the government seems intent on creating more controversy by attacking capitalism. I could go on a
Google Watch
We've had one failed attempt to break back above 1120. At 2:30, the S&P broke above 1120 on some good volume only to fire and fall back. GOOG reports earnings after the close and it may take a great report from GOOG to save the rally. The trade has been to sell on the news on some great earnings reports however, therefore can GOOG blow-out the earnings enough to propel the market higher? We won't have to wait long to find out.
S&P Ping Pong
Check out a chart of the SPX. Notice how we broke below 1120 around 11:45am and have been testing it ever since. If the market is not able to break back above 1120, we may see more selling into the close.
We are there
The market continues its retracement today and here we sit at the all important 1200 level on the S&P. How the market responds from here will go a long way in determining the market direction over the next few weeks. Many are blaming this pull back on all the rhetoric coming out of Washington regarding new regulation on banks. The scariest part of the new proposed legislation is that the government would basically have the power to determine even financially sound banks as "too big to fail" and force them to break up!!! Are we really at the end of free market cap
Sell the News?
The market has maintained its bearish tone since the open. IBM reported excellent results and even guided to the high end of its range and yet the market is down. Most pundits are blaming today's market action on China's comments regarding steps to slow growth and try and offset future inflation. Is this just a case of sell the news as the market made a nice run into these expected good earnings? Just a pause in the rally? Or is this something more sinister and forecasting the end of the rally? One thing to remember is that volatility marks both market to
Tuesday Morning Watch
Good Morning, I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. The important level to watch this morning is 1120 on the S&P. We will maintain a bullish stance as long as that support level holds. A break below 1120 and we will have to be begin to look to the downside. It seems there is more interest on the floor regarding the Massachusetts election than the market action. Obviously, a Republican win in Mass would have a major affect on governmental policy in the coming years.