Posted by STTG Team Leave a Comment 19 June 2013

STTG Market Recap June 19, 2013

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Bernanke not to the rescue....

Today was a frustrating day for bulls as a breakout yesterday was doused by Bernanke's comments today. As we wrote in yesterday's recap

Unfortunately this is happening right ahead of a much anticipated Federal Reserve announcement and press conference so volatility could be intense tomorrow.

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Of course we can ALWAYS have a fakeout where we breakout and immediately fail. But thus far in 2013 that has not been the case. The timing is not ideal ahead of the FOMC press conference tomorrow because "taper or no taper" talk will most likely move markets strongly in one direction or the other.

And so it was a very volatile day and the breakout was a fakeout as ironically the Fed was too positive on its economic outlook which means the potential for less support via quantitative easing, which is the drug the market loves more than good economic data in the modern era. The only thing that mattered today - and essentially the past two months since the last earnings season ended, has been the central banks so today's comments by Bernanke were the sole focus.

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Posted by STTG Team 1 Comment 18 June 2013

STTG Market Recap June 18, 2013

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Tuesday was the long awaited breakout from this month long correction as the major indexes, along with a key few indexes broke above their descending channels. Unfortunately this is happening right ahead of a much anticipated Federal Reserve announcement and press conference so volatility could be intense tomorrow. The S&P 500 gained 0.78% and the NASDAQ 0.87%. There were two economic reports on the day but neither really affected the market:

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Posted by STTG Team Leave a Comment 17 June 2013

STTG Market Recap June 17, 2013

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Monday was shaping up as an excellent day for the bulls until an afternoon headline hit from the Financial Times newspaper. Stocks had gapped up sharply at the open and had gone sideways for the better part of a few hours until this headline about Federal Reserve tapering hit the newswires. Immediately all the algorithms began selling which led to selling by humans and a big drop intraday. Some of this was recovered by the end of the session but what was looking like a clear breakout on the daily chart now becomes more muddled. You can see the mid afternoon volatility below around 2 PM, where the S&P 500 lost 8 points within half an hour and eventually fell as far as 13 points down from its 2 PM level. The S&P 500 added 0.76% and NASDAQ 0.83%. There was an interesting housing report today

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Posted by STTG Team 14 June 2013

STTG Market Recap June 14, 2013

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The market remains within its fourth week of correction, versus the May 22nd top. Much like last week a very sharp rally led to little momentum and stocks stalled today at the top of the descending channel we have been following on the major indexes. There just is no momentum from day to day, and volatility remains high. The S&P 500 fell 0.59% and NASDAQ 0.63%. For the week the S&P 500 fell 1.01% and the NASDAQ 1.32%. Consumer sentiment retreated to 82.7 in June after hitting its highest in nearly six years in May, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading. Next Wednesday we will have the Federal Reserve decision - expected to be unchanged - along with the quarterly press conference which will be impactful to markets considering the only thing people seem to talk about anymore is central bank actions.

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Posted by STTG Team 13 June 2013

STTG Market Recap June 13, 2013

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Thursday saw very similar action to the previous Thursday. A quick dip down at the open followed by a reversal, and big move up with a close near the highs of the day. Often these type of days mark a bottom of a correction so we have to watch to see if that was it as it is too soon to tell. But bulls made some nice progress. Economic news was ok as weekly jobless claims fell again and retail sales climbed 0.6 percent in May, topping expectations for a gain of 0.4 percent. However near the end of the day the Wall Street Journal reported that an adjustment in the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program did not mean that the central bank would end "all at once" or that the Fed was "anywhere near raising short-term interest rates." Investors took this as an "all signals go" on the punch bowl being provided by the Fed and stocks rocketed upward immediately. The S&P 500 added 1.48% and the NASDAQ 1.32% Let's take a look at what signs to look for, to see if this was a lasting bottom technically.

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