Apple and Buffett Push Stock Market Higher

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks are on the rise with a sharp mover higher buoyed by news that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought an additional 75 million shares of Apple Inc. in the first quarter of this year. That makes Berkshire the third-largest investor according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In an interview on CBNC with Becky Quick, Buffet said that Apple has "a wide, wide gap. I mean it's an amazing business. You can put all of their products on a dining room table."

That news drove Apple to an all-time of $183.87 a share, gaining over 3.5% on the day. Buffett's announcement came just days after Apple reported quarterly sales and profit that topped analysts' estimates on surging services as revenue rose at the fastest pace in more than two years.

Apple Buffett Push Stock Market Higher

The Labor Department reported on Friday that Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs last month, falling short of the estimated 192,000 jobs that analysts were expecting. Data for March was revised up to show the economy adding 135,000 jobs instead of the previously reported 103,000. That was the fewest amount of jobs created in six months and followed the big gain of 324,000 in February. Continue reading "Apple and Buffett Push Stock Market Higher"

Stocks Fall Ahead Of Fed Announcement

Hello traders everywhere. Overall the U.S. stock market is trading lower on the day after a slow opening and trading lower on the week. The reason for today's soft open is the Fed, which is set to release its latest monetary policy decision at 2 p.m. ET. Market expectations for a May rate hike are just 5.7%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The NASDAQ is the only index in the green, but that is solely due to Apple. Apple is a cash generating machine rising +4% after it posted resilient iPhone sales in the face of waning global demand and promised $100 billion in additional stock buybacks. But the real surprise was the service revenue with total paid subscriptions reaching 270 million, that's up by 100 million from a year ago.

Fed Announcement

We finally got the green monthly Trade Triangle on the U.S. dollar as it passed through the $92 level hitting new 3 month highs and trading up a little over 1% on the week. The U.S. two-year Treasury yields hit a 9-1/2-year high after data showed U.S. private-sector payrolls for April came roughly in line with market forecasts, cementing expectations for a rate increase in June.

Bitcoin is up .2% on the day but is still stuck in a tight trading range. For the last 12 days, it's been trapped between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. It needs to make a move above the 200-day MA, which currently stands at the 9,956.44 level, to break out to the upside. Continue reading "Stocks Fall Ahead Of Fed Announcement"

Stocks Positive For Month Despite Weakness

Hello traders everywhere. Although the stock market has slipped into the negative territory on the day all three indexes are looking to post a monthly gain for April. This will mark the first positive monthly gain in two months as volatility has taken a toll on the market over the last three months.

The S&P 500 is posting a monthly gain of +.75%; the DOW is looking to add slightly more to the bottom line with an increase of +.80%, in fact, the DOW hasn't had a losing April since April of 2005. The NASDAQ is posting the lowest monthly gain of +.18 as the tech sector has been under been under extreme pressure and volatility and with Apple (AAPL) earnings right around the corner it could get worse. All indications are that iPhone sells, although positive, are going to miss the mark as far as many analysts are concerned.

Stocks Positive For Month

The U.S. dollar continues to make a comeback with a monthly gain of +1.98%. After posting a weekly loss last week, Crude oil is closing out the month on a strong note and posting a +6% gain on the month. Meanwhile gold is looking so brilliant as it posts a loss of -.69% on the month.

Bitcoin continues to make a comeback, and it is going to have an impressive monthly gain of +31% for April. If you can ride the wave, it certainly can pay dividends. Continue reading "Stocks Positive For Month Despite Weakness"

Stock Market Waivers As GDP Growth Slows

Hello traders everywhere. The U.S. economy posted a 2.3% annual growth rate in the first quarter of 2018 as consumer spending turned in the weakest performance in nearly five years. However, the January-March increase came in better than expected, supporting hopes for a solid rebound for the rest of the year where analysts are looking for growth to surpass 3% once again.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gain in the gross domestic product (GDP), the economy's total output of goods and services, followed a 2.9% rise in the fourth quarter of 2017 and gains above 3% in the previous two quarters.

GDP Growth Slows

The DOW and NASDAQ are on pace to post a loss for the week overall after having two weeks of weekly gains, while the S&P 500 is sitting relatively unchanged for the week, although it is desperately close to posting a weekly loss as well.

The U.S. dollar is ending a strong week with a gain of 1.4% adding to the gains that it saw last week and looking to break 92.02 which would give us a new green monthly Trade Triangle indicating that the long-term trend is up for the dollar. Earlier in the week, Treasury yields broke above 3% on the week for the first time since 2014. But have since fallen on weak consumer spending data. Continue reading "Stock Market Waivers As GDP Growth Slows"

Interest Rates On The Rise

Hello traders everywhere. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has risen above 3% for the first time since January of 2014, signaling that higher interest rates are ahead for the U.S. bond market as the Federal Reserve is intent on boosting interest rates after keeping them at historically low levels for some time. The yield, the benchmark for everything from U.S. mortgages to dollar bonds in developing nations, climbed as high as 3.0014% in morning trading, before slipping back below 3% to 2.979% in the early afternoon.

As the 10-year yield broke three percent the stock market turned lower with the DOW losing over 1% on the day with the S&P 500 losing .80% and the NASDAQ falling 1.4% as tech is posting heavy losses.

Interest Rates Rise

Speaking of tech, the FAANG stocks are all lower on the day with Alphabet leading the way. Alphabet (Google) is posting a loss of over 4.5% on the day after reporting earnings where they made a lot of money, but investors are worried about rising expenses.

The other FAANG members are posting steep losses as well. Facebook declined 3.4%, Amazon 3.8%, Netflix declined 4.2% and Apple is losing just a tad over 1% on the day.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,553.80
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 23,344.52
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 6,805.90
Gold (NYMEX:GC.M18.E): 1,337.60
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.M18.E): 67.14
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.M18.E): 88.94
Bitcoin (CME:BRTI): 6,616.14

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com