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Four Signs That Normalcy Could Be Returning to the Market
After nearly three years of turmoil, normalcy could be returning to markets and the economy. Today we'll consider four trends that could indicate big changes from the chaos that began in early 2020 as coronavirus spread from China's Wuhan province. If they continue,...
Tesla Is Headed for Its Worst Month Ever As Elon Musk Veers Into the Twitterverse
Tesla is headed for its worst month ever as Elon Musk focuses on Twitter and China continues pandemic lockdowns. The electric-vehicle giant is down 26 percent in November through Monday's close. The only other month with a similar decline, according to TradeStation...
Stock Investors Could Gain Optimism as Fed Officials Eye Smaller Hikes
Conditions may be improving in the stock market as investors prepare for a busy week before the homestretch of the year. The S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent between Friday, November 11, and Friday, November 18. The index held its ground following a rally of almost 6...
Positive Inflation News Propels the Nasdaq Higher: Finally a Turn?
Stocks jumped last week on signs inflation may finally be coming under control. The S&P 500 rose 5.9 percent between Friday, November 4, and Friday November 11. It was the biggest weekly gain since June, with 95 percent of the index's members advancing. The...
Art of TradeStation: Go Deeper With Market Breadth
Market breadth analyzes the strength of the overall market by showing how stocks are performing in aggregate. It's a kind of technical analysis that looks deeper than the simple price performance of market-cap weighted major indexes like the S&P 500 and...
Chart of the Day: Does the S&P 500 Have Lessons From History?
Yesterday's CPI report was a reminder that, despite how it feels, the inflation crisis might not last forever. This raises the question of how to think about the Federal Reserve, and makes us look back to previous moments in history. The most relevant precedent could...
Layoffs Increase, Potentially Welcome News for the Federal Reserve
Layoffs are a new trending theme, which is potentially welcome news for the Federal Reserve. The Google Trends chart below shows interest in the term "layoff" tripling since the beginning of October. It's now back to its highest level since May 2020 near the start of...
Chart of the Day: Can Anything Stop Hess?
Energy remains the top-performing sector this year. Today we're focusing a member of the group with potentially classic breakout behavior: Hess. The first pattern on the oil and gas stock's chart is the is the October 26 surge above $137. That was the previous...
Investors Survive a Turbulent October, Shifting to New Stocks as Interest Rates Climb
Stocks held their ground during a turbulent October as investors focused on new areas that could lead in the market's next cycle. The S&P 500 rose 8 percent, advancing for the first time in three months. The move came after a higher-than-expected inflation report...
Four Signs That Normalcy Could Be Returning to the Market
After nearly three years of turmoil, normalcy could be returning to markets and the economy. Today we'll consider four trends that could indicate big changes from the chaos that began in early 2020 as coronavirus spread from China's Wuhan province. If they continue,...
Tesla Is Headed for Its Worst Month Ever As Elon Musk Veers Into the Twitterverse
Tesla is headed for its worst month ever as Elon Musk focuses on Twitter and China continues pandemic lockdowns. The electric-vehicle giant is down 26 percent in November through Monday's close. The only other month with a similar decline, according to TradeStation...
Stock Investors Could Gain Optimism as Fed Officials Eye Smaller Hikes
Conditions may be improving in the stock market as investors prepare for a busy week before the homestretch of the year. The S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent between Friday, November 11, and Friday, November 18. The index held its ground following a rally of almost 6...
Positive Inflation News Propels the Nasdaq Higher: Finally a Turn?
Stocks jumped last week on signs inflation may finally be coming under control. The S&P 500 rose 5.9 percent between Friday, November 4, and Friday November 11. It was the biggest weekly gain since June, with 95 percent of the index's members advancing. The...
Art of TradeStation: Go Deeper With Market Breadth
Market breadth analyzes the strength of the overall market by showing how stocks are performing in aggregate. It's a kind of technical analysis that looks deeper than the simple price performance of market-cap weighted major indexes like the S&P 500 and...
Chart of the Day: Does the S&P 500 Have Lessons From History?
Yesterday's CPI report was a reminder that, despite how it feels, the inflation crisis might not last forever. This raises the question of how to think about the Federal Reserve, and makes us look back to previous moments in history. The most relevant precedent could...
Layoffs Increase, Potentially Welcome News for the Federal Reserve
Layoffs are a new trending theme, which is potentially welcome news for the Federal Reserve. The Google Trends chart below shows interest in the term "layoff" tripling since the beginning of October. It's now back to its highest level since May 2020 near the start of...
Chart of the Day: Can Anything Stop Hess?
Energy remains the top-performing sector this year. Today we're focusing a member of the group with potentially classic breakout behavior: Hess. The first pattern on the oil and gas stock's chart is the is the October 26 surge above $137. That was the previous...
Investors Survive a Turbulent October, Shifting to New Stocks as Interest Rates Climb
Stocks held their ground during a turbulent October as investors focused on new areas that could lead in the market's next cycle. The S&P 500 rose 8 percent, advancing for the first time in three months. The move came after a higher-than-expected inflation report...
Stocks Keep Sliding as Inflation Squeezes Profits and Consumers
Stocks fell again last week as investors see more risk from the war in Ukraine and rising inflation. The S&P 500 slid 2.9 percent between Friday, March 4, and Friday, March 11. It was the fourth decline in the last five weeks, miring the index at levels from...
Global Energy Squeeze Revives Interest In Solar Stocks Following a Year of Consolidation
Solar energy stocks were one of the top performing groups in the pandemic year 2020. Now after a long pause, the global energy shock is reviving the group. SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) is up 36 percent in the last month, making it the top performing member of the...
Stocks Show Some Positives Despite Geopolitics Creating Historic Uncertainty for Investors
Stocks remain under pressure as the Ukraine crisis roils the global economy, spreading uncertainty at a key time in the post-pandemic recovery. Still, some positives have emerged. The S&P 500 dropped 1.3 percent between Friday, February 25, and Friday, March 4. It...
With Technology Still Under Pressure, Where Is Money Going in the Stock Market?
Steel stocks are flying as investors scramble to stay ahead of spiraling inflation. The DJ US Steel Index ($DJUSST) surged 29 percent in February. It not only hit a 13-year high. It also outperformed the S&P 500 by a whopping 31 percentage points. That was its...
These Were the Busiest Symbols at TradeStation in February
Advanced Micro Devices was the busiest symbol at TradeStation Securities in February, knocking Tesla from the No. 1 spot. Activity surged in AMD after the chip maker reported better-than-expected earnings, revenue and guidance. The stock, rebounding from a four-month...
Stocks Hold Their Ground But Face a Series of Potential Risks as Ukraine Crisis Rages
Stocks inched higher last week but face a potential minefield of geopolitical risk and economic events in coming days. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent between Friday, February 18, and Friday, February 25. It was the first positive week in the last three, but the...
The Economy May Be Accelerating Before the State of the Union and Powell’s Testimony This Week
It's been almost exactly two years since the coronavirus pandemic hammered the global economy. And now things may be finally returning to normal -- just in time for some big events in coming days. Consider some of these reports last week: The Commerce Department...
Russian Attack Triggers Surprise Rally Across the Beaten Down Nasdaq-100
Russia attacked Ukraine early on Thursday. After an initial panic, investors had an interesting response: They piled into software and technology stocks that took a beating over the last two months. Take a company like Microsoft (MSFT), which pushed under $272 in the...
Technical Analysis: Is This Social Media Stock Overbought After an Earnings Rally?
Snap had a sharp rally on February 4 after quarterly results beat estimates. But now its longer-term downtrend may be reasserting itself. The first pattern on today’s chart is the stochastic oscillator. It’s swinging back to the downside after jumping into overbought...
Traders Think Mega Bank Is Boxed In: Options Recap
The country's No. 2 lender was met with shrugs after raising its dividend last week, and now traders are looking for the stock to remain under pressure. Check out this giant transaction in Bank of America (BAC), the biggest in the entire options market yesterday: A...
Basics of hedging, part 1: Puts
Market volatility is one the biggest headaches for investors. You can make very good choices on stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), researching the fundamentals and knowing their opportunities. But then a tornado of movement hits and all that hard work turns into...
Medical device giant targeted for breakout: Options recap
Medical-device giant Medtronic (MDT) has gone nowhere for the last two years, but options traders are looking for a breakout. About 25,000 August 90 calls were bought on Tuesday for $0.74 -- pretty noteworthy for a company that averaged only 10,000 contracts per...
How a bull’s playing sneaker earnings: Options recap
Last quarter iconic sneaker maker Nike (NKE) surprised to the upside. One big options trader seem to expect more good news tomorrow night. Here's a breakdown of the complex, high-risk complex strategy that appeared yesterday afternoon: 4,100 6-July 73.50 calls were...
Options action: How red can a blue chip get?
Disclaimer: This post is intended for educational purposes and is not a trade recommendation. Options trading may not be suitable for all investors. It was once the world's biggest company, but bears are circling. General Electric (GE) got cut in half last year, and...
Oil bears double downside bet in key ETF: Options recap
Disclosure: This post is intended for educational purposes only. Options trading may not be suitable for all investors. We just wrote about the drop in oil as the market braces for potential supply increases at next week's OPEC meeting. Almost simultaneously, a big...
Where options traders are mining for a rally
Someone wants to turn iron into gold with options. Here's the large bullish trade detected yesterday in Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF): 25,000 August 8 calls bought for $1.29. 25,000 August 8 puts sold for $0.28. 25,000 June 7 calls sold for $1.96 as an existing position...
Bulls stick with copper bigwig: Options recap
Only a week ago, Freeport McMoRan (FCX) was the target of a large bullish options trade. Today the copper giant is seeing more of the same. Activity hit fast and furious in FCX's July 16 calls out of the gate this morning. Large blocks changed hands for $2.20 to...
Options traders see fireworks in beaten down tech stock
Options traders seem to expect a hot summer from a forgotten tech stock. More than 19,000 July 29 calls traded in Juniper Networks (JNPR) on Friday. Buyers initially paid $0.56 and kept nibbling as the stock moved higher. Pretty soon they doubled to $1.15 and even...