Nasdaq Hits Record As Dow Surges

Hello traders everywhere. The Nasdaq is trading at record highs today erasing last weeks loss and triggering a new green monthly Trade Triangle. In fact, all three indexes are trading considerably higher today and trying to wipe out their losses from last week.

The reason for the significant gains today, a huge jobs number. Nonfarm payrolls jumped by 313,000 jobs last month, boosted by the largest rise in construction jobs since 2007, the Labor Department said on Friday. The payrolls gain was the biggest since July 2016 and triple the roughly 100,000 jobs the economy needs to create each month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.

NASDAQ

The labor market is benefiting from strong domestic demand, an improvement in global growth as well as robust U.S. business sentiment following the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion income tax cut package that come into effect in January. Continue reading "Nasdaq Hits Record As Dow Surges"

Cohn Resignation Puts Pressure On Stocks

Hello traders everywhere. Gary Cohn's resignation from being President Donald Trump's chief economic advisor has caused the stock market to head considerably lower on the day. His departure creates uncertainty in the markets and fears that the Trump trade war could take place sooner rather than later.

Even on a day when ADP and Moody's Analytics announced that private-sector jobs grew by 235,000 in February, surpassing an estimate of 195,000, Cohn's resignation trumped the good news. The report is used as a preview to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly jobs report, which is scheduled to be released Friday.

Cohn Resignation

Bitcoin has slumped after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reiterated that many online trading platforms for digital assets should register with the agency as exchanges. Continue reading "Cohn Resignation Puts Pressure On Stocks"

Stocks Rise After Soft Opening

Hello traders everywhere. After a rough week where all three indexes ended lower the Monday open seemed to continue that trend with the indexes opening lower on the day. However, late morning brought about a turnaround, and the stock market is solidly in positive territory for the day. The reason for the turnaround? Speculation by traders that President Donald Trump's tough tariff talk won't translate into the most severe protectionist policies as many had feared.

Trump appears to be opening the door for negotiations on tariffs. In a series of tweets Monday morning, Trump said: "Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed," adding that "Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done."

Also, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was "extremely worried" about Trump's trade plan. Congressional leaders will not rule out potential action if Trump decides to move forward with his tariff plan.

Stocks Rise

Key Events Coming This Week

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Trump Trade War

Hello traders everywhere. Stocks traded sharply lower earlier in the day on fears that a Trump trade war could take place after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Trump announced on Thursday that the U.S. would implement a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports next week. The news sent stocks reeling, with the Dow closing 420 points lower, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped more than 1 percent. It has also raised concern that other countries may implement retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.

Trump Trade War

The S&P 500 traded 0.2% higher after falling more than 1% in early trading but has slipped back into negative territory losing .20%. The S&P 500 is down 2.6% for the week.

In volatile trading, The Dow Jones industrial average traded 70 points lower after falling as much as 391 points, but has since dropped back below a 200 pt loss on the day. Overall the DOW is down 3.4% on the week. Continue reading "Trump Trade War"

First Monthly Loss For Stock Market

Hello traders everywhere. The DOW and S&P 500 are both posting their first monthly loss in ten months. Although we seemed to be ending the month on a daily high note the trend of heading lower resumed this afternoon after the EIA reported that oil had a larger-than-expected build in U.S. stockpiles, which has pushed crude oil lower. Both indexes are down a little over 2% on the month and not quite able to erase the losses from the extreme volatility that we saw in February.

The NASDAQ has fared better only losing -.6%, but it is still posting its first monthly loss in the last seven months. The tech sector has been a standout in all of the market volatility, but it indeed hasn't been immune to it.

Monthly Loss

Looking Forward:

March could be a better month for stocks because when February ends lower, March performed best, averaging a 4.3% spring back in the S&P. One of those years was the tech bubble of 2000, when March was up 9.7%, the best performance since 1983. March 2009 was second best, with a gain of 8.5%. So we may just retest the all-time highers sooner than you think.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

Continue reading "First Monthly Loss For Stock Market"