Week of December 24th Stock Market Watch

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Stocks continue to sell off as we head into Christmas and New Year’s. If the situation doesn’t improve, this will be the worst year for stocks since 2008. Over the last week, stocks like Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, and Unitedhealth fell by more than 10%.

That said, there are a number of reasons to hate this market, they include:

  • The government shutdown
  • Rising interest rates
  • Fears of an economic downturn
  • Loss of confidence in the Federal Reserve Bank
  • Crashing oil prices
  • Uncertainty with Brexit

It’s probably safe to say, there will be on Santa Claus rally this year…

The VIX closed at 30.11 on Friday. Last week we mentioned that when VIX gets above 30 and above, the market is in state of panic. Well, welcome to the panic room.

Here are how some of the most actively traded index ETFs performed over the week: SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) -7.59, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) -8.70%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) -7.18%, Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) -8.39%

Here are how some of the most actively traded commodity and interest rate ETFs performed: United States Oil Fund (USO) -11.55%, iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) +1.89%, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) +1.42%

The markets will be open for a half day on Monday, and closed on Tuesday, for the Christmas holiday.

Economic Releases:
27 Dec 2018- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET; New Home Sales 10:00 AM ET

28 Dec 2018- International Trade In Goods 8:30 AM ET; EIA Petroleum Status Report 11:00 AM ET

Key Earnings:
None

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October 18, 2016 Market Wrap Up

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The S&P 500 was off to a solid start gaining more than .6% on below average volume. We got strong earnings reports out of Goldman Sachs, Netflix, and UnitedHealth. However, there were some companies that didn’t fare as well like IBM and Johnson & Johnson.

Stocks in play today included: Banc of California (BANC) -29.05%, Netflix (NFLX) +19.07%, Harley-Davidson (HOG) +9.03%, and Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) +4.89%

The VIX sold off nearly 6% and closed at 15.28.

Crude oil futures prices paired off yesterday’s losses and continue to trade above $50 per barrel.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Iamgold CytRX Corp (CYTR), which traded 41.4 times normal option volume. In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Progressive Corporation (PGR), which saw 5.4 times normal options volume.

Here’s what’s on tap for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
19 Oct 2016- Housing Starts 8:30 AM ET, EIA Petroleum Status Report 10:30 AM ET
20 Oct 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET, Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey 8:30 AM ET, Existing Home Sales 10:00 AM ET

Key Earnings:
19 Oct 2016- ABT, CP, DOV, GPC, HAL, MS, RAI, STJ, STX, SVU, TUP, USB, AXP, EBAY, CTXS, HNI, GGG, MAT, PKG, SLM, STLD, URI, XLNX
20 Oct 2016- BK, DAN, DGX, DHR, FITB, KCG, NUE, PH, PHM, PPG, TRV, TXT, UNP, VZ, WBA, WBC, AMD, ATHN, EFTC, KLAC, MSFT, MXIM, N, PYPL, RCI, RS, SLB, SWN
21 Oct 2016- GE, HON, IPG, MCD, SYF, SAP, STI, MAN

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