Good evening StockBandits!

In the sports world, true domination takes place when one team simply can’t seem to beat the other.  It’s not necessarily about a blowout win, because quite honestly anyone can have an off night and often times after that happens the favor is returned as the big winner lets up and the (former) big loser gets determined enough to even things up.  But true domination…it’s lopsided.  It’s all wins for one side, and all losses for the other.  Like a wrestling match between me and my 5 year-old, I like to sometimes let him think he can get me but I’m still just bigger than he is. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

The major averages spent last week doing very little and the net changes reflected it.  The S&P gained 2 points, the NAZ lost 1, and the DJIA lost 11.  Meanwhile, the small-cap superstar RUT index tacked on another 1% to again post new all-time highs.  That index is typically more lively than the others, and right now that’s certainly the case as it keeps on adding to the 21% gain it has piled up since mid-November. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

The NAZ finally broke out through 3196 today, but in all honesty it was more of a technicality than a true breakout.  Highly-anticipated breakouts like the one we’ve been waiting to see in the NAZ aren’t often yawned at when they finally occur, but essentially that’s what happened today.  The tech index closed right at the number after pushing 9 points beyond it earlier in the day, raising additional questions as to why it has been so reluctant to participate in the rally. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

The indexes painted an inside day today on the daily chart, unable to make any additional progress on the heels of Friday’s push to incremental new highs.  The bulls, for whatever reason, simply aren’t pressing their short-term edge here and are instead allowing stocks to churn and coil near their recovery highs.  Whether that gets resolved to the upside or not remains to be seen, but the buyers are hesitant here and not feeling any sense of urgency to put more cash to work. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

The averages took a hit to kick off last week, but true to form, the bulls stepped up before it was all said and done.  Short-term trading ranges near the highs were held until Friday when a gap up and an early burst of buying took each of the averages to new recovery highs.  Overall, the net gains for the week were rather light, but the bulls continue to hold their ground despite concerns that this rally has grown long in the tooth. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

Red, green, red, green…the market has become a bit indecisive here, ultimately resulting in lateral price action in the past few sessions.  While we saw sharp rallies on both Friday and Tuesday following declines, the fact is that neither has produced any follow through.  We’re sitting right near recovery highs and suddenly the bulls seem a little hesitant to really press their edge. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

What pullback?!  Monday’s trend day to the downside was essentially erased with aggressive buying today.  True to form, the bulls quickly stepped in to defend their territory (and recent progress) today as the open marked the low of the session and stocks reversed right back up to finish right near Friday’s closing levels.  It seems as though it’s going to take quite a bit more than a single day of healthy profit-taking to shift the mood of this market. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

The market put up its worst day of a young 2013 with each of the averages shedding roughly 1% today.  Making the day appear even worse, stocks went out at their lows of the day after trending down throughout the session with buyers nowhere in sight.  It’s almost as if the bulls decided it wasn’t so bad to book some profits after all! [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

With another FOMC meeting, earnings reports and a jobs number to contend with last week, the indexes navigated it all smoothly and pushed onward and upward to end the week at new recovery highs.  That included more all-time highs for the RUT, and 52-week highs for the S&P 500 and DJIA (now back above 14k).  Meanwhile, the NAZ pushed past the October high and now is within arm’s reach of its 52-week high despite AAPL still serving as dead weight. [Read more…]

Good evening StockBandits!

Stocks pulled back a bit today with the high of the session being set early in the day.  That’s a complete shift from the norm of late where we’ve seen early weakness and afternoon strength, as I noted last night.  Perhaps dubbing it a “routine” did the trick, but either way we saw some mild profit-taking kick in ahead of the FOMC report.  While the headlines revealed nothing unexpected, we did see another round of selling post-Fed which left each of the averages in the red by day’s end. [Read more…]