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Written by Dr. Duke

Category: Dr. Duke's Blog

Created: 07 March 2016

Last Updated: 07 March 2016

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The bulls have been on a strong run higher for the past couple of weeks. Today's slowing only seems natural. SPX broke through the magical $2000 level with a close at $2002, up two dollars on the day. RUT continues on a tear with a twelve dollar gain to $1094. When one thinks of the small caps as the "risk on" stocks, RUT looks very bullish. But RUT has far more to make up from the correction than does SPX. Even with the strong moves higher the past couple of weeks, RUT remains below the lows hit in the initial flash crash on August 24th.

Volatility was largely unchanged with the VIX at 17.2%. Trading volume pulled back today with 2.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume on the NYSE declined 20% and trading on NASDAQ dropped 6%.

URBN was trading very strongly the past few days, probably in anticipation of its earnings announcement this evening. I entered this trade and shared it with my trading group today: URBN Mar/Apr 25/28 diagonal call spread for $234. Due to the high volatility before the announcement, I was able to sell the Mar call for 39% of the price of the long April $25 call. Even though the earnings announcement is a dicey time to go bullish on any stock, we hedged our downside nicely by selling so much premium to significantly reduce the cost basis in the long April call. In after hours trading, URBN has traded up to $31.44, so it looks like we have a big winner.

Now the market debate has turned from "the sky is falling" to "how high can it go?" I think both extremes are wrong. The basic economic data don't support a strong bull market. But those same data don't justify all of the doom and gloom of the past few weeks either. We may also see some treading water in the markets as the FOMC meeting next week comes into focus.

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Written by Dr. Duke

Category: Dr. Duke's Blog

Created: 01 March 2016

Last Updated: 01 March 2016

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The futures were up about $10 when I first checked them early this morning, and the market did follow through with a positive open. Often those positive opens are met with selling, but not today. The markets just kept on pushing steadily higher all day with SPX gaining $46 to close at $1978. RUT gained $21 to close at $1054. SPX rose 2.4% today; RUT rose 2.0%, but the NASDAQ composite rocketed higher by 2.9%. Trading volume was higher across the board today with 2.9 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading rose 4% on the NYSE and increased 13% on NASDAQ. Volatility made a huge move today with the VIX dropping almost three points to 17.7%. Where did those bears go?

Construction spending increased 1.5% in January, a nice improvement over December's +0.6%. The ISM manufacturing index came in for February at 49.5, up from January's 48.2.

It appears this positive economic data finally broke the pessimistic hold the bears had on the market. SPX has finally decisively broken resistance at $1940 from January 29th. Over the past week, SPX has flirted with that level, closing alternatively above and below $1940. But today's run was decisive. But I'm not betting on a strong bullish run to new highs. First of all, the economic data aren't that great, and secondly, this presidential election is giving many traders the jitters. Socialism used to be a bad word...

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Written by Dr. Duke

Category: Dr. Duke's Blog

Created: 03 March 2016

Last Updated: 03 March 2016

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The markets continued their climb higher today. SPX gained $7 to close at $1993. RUT tacked on $10 to arrive at $1076. Volatility continued to contract with VIX losing 0.4 points to 16.7%. Trading volume was slightly higher with 2.8 billion shares of the S&P 500 companies trading today. Trading volume on the NYSE was up 9%, but trading volume on NASDAQ was only up 1%.

Initial unemployment claims came in at 278k, essentially flat with last week's 272k. Continuing unemployment claims were also flat with 2.257 million, slightly higher than last week's 2.254 million. Factory orders increased 1.6% in January, up from the 2.9% decline in December. The ISM services index was flat for February at 53.4; January's number was 53.5.

The jobs report comes out before the market opens tomorrow. Will it matter to this bullish market?

I'm in Orlando for the Money Show. I have been impressed by the quality of the speakers. I recommend you check out the next Money Show. I have learned a lot over the past two days. If you are in the neighborhood, send me a note; we can meet, share a coffee, and discuss this market.

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Written by Dr. Duke

Category: Dr. Duke's Blog

Created: 29 February 2016

Last Updated: 29 February 2016

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SPX opened higher this morning and traded up to $1958, but then started a steady decline and closed at its low for the day - not a good sign. SPX closed down $16 at $1932 and RUT lost $3 to close at $1034. SPX reached $1940 on 1/29 after hitting the correction low on 1/20. Then SPX turned and set a new lower low on 2/11 at $1829. That is why many technical analysts were watching for the resistance at $1940 to be broken. SPX did indeed have three closes above $1940 last week, but it couldn't hold those levels today. Volatility tacked on almost a point with the VIX closing at 20.6%. Trading volume was up a bit with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading today. Trading rose 0.6% on the NYSE but dropped 2% on NASDAQ.

The Chicago PMI issued its February report at 47.6, down from 55.6. Pending home sales declined 2.5% in January, down from December's +0.9%.

The jobs report will issue on Friday, but it seems early for the market to be stalling in advance of that report. Maybe the fundamental issue is that there aren't sufficient strong economic data to fuel a bull market. On the other hand, I don't think the data are weak enough to justify a bear market. Maybe the sideways thrashing back and forth will be the norm, at least until we get the elections behind us.