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Stocks Tumble as Inflation Worries Surge Back to Wall Street
What if inflation isn't defeated as hoped? That was the big fear on Wall Street last week. The S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent in the holiday-shortened period between Friday, March 17, and Friday, March 24. It was the biggest weekly drop since early December, returning...
S&P 500 Pulls Back to the 50-day MA: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 pulls back to 50-day MA.Prices have retraced half their move off December lows.S&P 500 holding bottom of Keltner Channel.Potential for...
What Are the Top Contracts for Futures Traders?
(This post was updated March 20, 2023.) Futures are derivatives that track products like the S&P 500, crude oil, Treasury bonds and gold. Traders use futures to position for rallies and drops, with the ability to place orders most times of the day. These extended...
The Stock Market Is Tightening Into a Range as Traders Wait for More Fed News
Stocks are squeezing into a tight range as investors weigh the risks of inflation and more interest-rate hikes. The S&P 500 slid 0.3 percent between Friday, February 10, and Friday, February 17. It was the index's second straight negative week after hitting a...
Is Tesla Overvalued? Check Out These Stunning Comparisons to GM and Ford
Tesla is one of the market's most active companies for stock and options traders. It could also look most expensive by various measures, but is it overvalued? This article will address the question by comparing Elon Musk’s company with other major car makers. It...
S&P Holds December High as Volatility Fades: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tests and holds December high of 4,101.38.2% retracement of YTD moveTests and holds middle of price channel, potential signal for bull flag breakoutS&P...
Can Stocks Keep Running With Another Big Inflation Report This Week?
Stocks fell last week as traders sold recent gainers in the technology space. They now face a potentially big test with key inflation data due tomorrow morning. The S&P 500 retreated 1.1 percent between Friday, February 3, and Friday, February 10. It was the first...
Chart of the Day: Potentially Bearish Candlestick Pattern in Amazon.com
Amazon.com tried to rally a week ago. It proceeded to fall on weak quarterly results, leaving some potentially difficult patterns on the daily chart . First, the single candlestick on February 2 was isolated above the other recent prices. That is sometimes known as a...
Stocks Overbought as Traders Wait for Inflation? Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 is challenging mid-September high and March lows around 4120.10-day moving average rising for 23 candles, the longest streak since August.Fewer index members above 20-day MA than above 50-day MA....
Stocks Tumble as Inflation Worries Surge Back to Wall Street
What if inflation isn't defeated as hoped? That was the big fear on Wall Street last week. The S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent in the holiday-shortened period between Friday, March 17, and Friday, March 24. It was the biggest weekly drop since early December, returning...
S&P 500 Pulls Back to the 50-day MA: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 pulls back to 50-day MA.Prices have retraced half their move off December lows.S&P 500 holding bottom of Keltner Channel.Potential for...
What Are the Top Contracts for Futures Traders?
(This post was updated March 20, 2023.) Futures are derivatives that track products like the S&P 500, crude oil, Treasury bonds and gold. Traders use futures to position for rallies and drops, with the ability to place orders most times of the day. These extended...
The Stock Market Is Tightening Into a Range as Traders Wait for More Fed News
Stocks are squeezing into a tight range as investors weigh the risks of inflation and more interest-rate hikes. The S&P 500 slid 0.3 percent between Friday, February 10, and Friday, February 17. It was the index's second straight negative week after hitting a...
Is Tesla Overvalued? Check Out These Stunning Comparisons to GM and Ford
Tesla is one of the market's most active companies for stock and options traders. It could also look most expensive by various measures, but is it overvalued? This article will address the question by comparing Elon Musk’s company with other major car makers. It...
S&P Holds December High as Volatility Fades: Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Register for Market Trends here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 tests and holds December high of 4,101.38.2% retracement of YTD moveTests and holds middle of price channel, potential signal for bull flag breakoutS&P...
Can Stocks Keep Running With Another Big Inflation Report This Week?
Stocks fell last week as traders sold recent gainers in the technology space. They now face a potentially big test with key inflation data due tomorrow morning. The S&P 500 retreated 1.1 percent between Friday, February 3, and Friday, February 10. It was the first...
Chart of the Day: Potentially Bearish Candlestick Pattern in Amazon.com
Amazon.com tried to rally a week ago. It proceeded to fall on weak quarterly results, leaving some potentially difficult patterns on the daily chart . First, the single candlestick on February 2 was isolated above the other recent prices. That is sometimes known as a...
Stocks Overbought as Traders Wait for Inflation? Market Trends This Week
Downloads available here and here. Sizing Up the S&P 500 S&P 500 is challenging mid-September high and March lows around 4120.10-day moving average rising for 23 candles, the longest streak since August.Fewer index members above 20-day MA than above 50-day MA....
Chart of the Day: Chinese Electric Car Stock Rallies and Pulls Back
Most Chinese stocks remain well below their 52-week highs, but not Li Auto. Let's consider some of the patterns on the Beijing-based maker of electric cars and SUVs. First you have the level around $33. It was the opening price on December 3 when news of Didi's...
Stocks Muscle Higher as Rate Hike Looms and Earnings Stream In
Stocks are muscling higher before one of the busiest weeks of the year, packed with key earnings and a major Federal Reserve meeting. The S&P 500 rose 2.5 percent between Friday, July 15, and Friday July 22. The index closed at its highest level in over a month as...
This Food Stock Broke Out to New Highs. Now It’s Pulled Back
General Mills has been a slow mover for years, but the Cheerios maker has gotten more interesting lately. The main pattern on today’s chart is the June 29 rally above $73. That was not only a new 52-week high. It was also a breakout above the previous all-time peak in...
Energy Could Be Stabilizing as Focus Shifts to European Natural Gas Crunch
Energy stocks fell sharply in June as investors took profits on 2022's best-performing sector. Now they could be stabilizing as inventories tighten and Europe faces potential shortages. The S&P Energy Select Sector Index ($SIXE.X) rose above its 21-day exponential...
Stocks Just Defied the Bears as Attention Shifts from Inflation to Earnings Season
Stocks are holding their ground as attention shifts from inflation to earnings season. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent between Friday, July 8, and Friday July 15. At one point the index was down as much as 4.6 percent, but prices rebounded and stayed within their...
Chart of the Day: DIY Giant Tries to Break Out Before Key Data
Home Depot could be attempting a breakout as investors await key industry data. The main patterns on today’s chart are the falling trendline and the 50-day moving average. HD is attempting to push through both. This is especially interesting because TradeStation data...
A Key Semiconductor Stock Just Gave Tech Investors a Boost of Confidence
Chip stocks are an important part of the market because of their wide use across the economy. Yesterday, a key player gave investors a big shot of confidence in the group. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) gained almost 3 percent after announcing quarterly results. As its...
Chart of the Day: Tight Consolidation, Golden Cross in Top Solar Stock
Solar energy has been one of a few bright spots in this bearish market. Today we’re looking at the company in the group with the largest market cap: Enphase Energy (ENPH). The first pattern on this daily chart is the uptrend since mid-May -- the opposite of the...
Nasdaq and Tech Are Stabilizing as Investors Prepare for Earnings Season
Growth stocks and the Nasdaq-100 could be attempting a turn after six months of steady declines. The technology-heavy index rose 4.7 percent in the holiday-shortened week between Friday, July 1, and Friday, July 8. In absolute terms, the gain was smaller than two...
Bears Won’t Say Good-Bye to Energy Space: Options Recap
Someone's bracing for more bad news in one of the market's weakest sectors. Energy stocks, on average, have lost twice as much value as the broader S&P 500 over the last month. A combination of rising crude-oil inventories, bearish chart patterns and weakening...
Long-Term Bulls Are Active Today: Options Recap
Cell phones and natural gas. Those are some big trades in the options market today. Let's start with Sprint (S), which saw the purchase of 20,000 May 7 calls for $0.50 and the sale of 40,000 May 8 calls for $0.21. It's a little complicated, so here's a breakdown of...
Basics of Hedging, Part 3: Buying Vs. Selling Options
We recently outlined protective puts and covered calls as common hedging techniques. This brings us to the important question of selling options versus buying options. To understand the these two basic kinds of transactions, traders need to recognize the difference...
Get the Real Story on Volatility
Most clients know the VIX measures the cost of options on the S&P 500. Are you aware that TradeStation's award-winning platform can go miles deeper by analyzing all the stocks in the market? Capitalize on our implied-volatility data to determine whether the...
Guess Who’s Shopping in the Retail Space
Bears are shopping for downside in the retail space after a rough start to the month. A block of 40,000 December 47 puts was purchased this morning in SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) for $1.08. It was one of the largest transactions in the entire market. Puts can make...
Master Options in Chicago This Month!
Are you getting everything you should out of the stock market? If you don't trade options, the answer is probably "no." Everyone has excuses: "Options are too complicated." "They have confusing Greek letters." "They have time decay and may expire worthless." We've...
Bulls Want a Gusher from South American Oil Giant
Brazil's ripping this week, and today's biggest options trade is following the trend. Check out the bullish call spread this morning in oil giant Petrobras (PBR), the country's largest company by market cap: A block of 130,000 October 16 calls was bought for $0.28....
The Message Behind Yesterday’s Volatility Spike
Yesterday was a reminder for traders who forgot what volatility feels like. The S&P 500 had its biggest drop since June 25, and Cboe's Volatility Index ($VIX.X) had its biggest spike over the same period. Even more impressive, TradeStation data showed 23.6 million...
How Long Can the Party Last in This Latin Lender?
Brazil is en fuego, as Market Insights highlighted yesterday. But this session options traders are fading the rally in a key name. Itau Unibanco (ITUB), the country's biggest lender, is up 7.49 percent to $12.34 in afternoon trading. The gains come amid optimism that...
There Are Signs of Fear Leaving the Market
Stocks are bouncing today after Washington and Beijing exchanged tariffs. Beyond those headlines, various signs have suggested fear is leaving the market. First, look at sector performance. In the last week, "risk-on" sectors like energy and industrials have...
Options 101: Going ‘In the Money’
One of the confusing things about options is, quite simply, all the options. Every underlier has dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of related contracts. Where on earth to begin? There are many ways to approach this question, so today we'll consider options...
Bulls Regain Footing Above Key Level
Stocks rebounded last week as the bulls regained their footing at a key level. The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent between Friday, September 7, and Friday, September 14. It was the biggest weekly gain in two months, with more than two-thirds of the companies in the index...
Check Out This Stunning Divergence in Tech
Software versus semiconductors. It's a major split running down the middle of the technology sector. The chart below compares the performance between the iShares North American Software ETF (IGV) and the Market Vectors Semiconductor ETC (SMH) since the start of 2016....
Why Yesterday Might Have Been a Big Day
Something interesting happened yesterday: a bullish engulfing candle on the S&P 500. That means the index opened below the previous session's low and closed above its high. It's a classic reversal pattern that may signal a directional change. In this case, it...
Guess What Index Just Broke Out
Over a century ago, Charles Dow said it's bullish when transportation stocks hit new highs. That's exactly what they're doing today. So-called "Dow Theory" teaches that different parts of the market can confirm each other. This is especially true with economically...
Marijuana Momentum, Airlines Ascending: Groups in Focus
Two different groups have been "flying under the radar" and "hitting new highs" in recent weeks. Let's check them out. First: Flying under the radar. Yep, some of the airlines have been climbing. This group is a bit muddled because performance between carriers has...
Big Tech Slammed Again As Rotation Continues
As the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. That seems to be the case in technology stocks this week as large-cap members of the big indexes get hammered while other parts of the market hold their ground. Notice on the RadarScreen® below that the...
Tech Troubles, Emerging Meltdown Lifts Volatility
Volatility's on the rise again today, especially for tech stocks and emerging markets. A combination of political risk, currency anxiety and simple buyer exhaustion seem to be triggering the move. The political risk is happening on Capitol Hill as major e-commerce...