Today felt like a hangover after the big party the last two days. The major indices showed no ability to take a stand as they drifted choppily to the downside all session. Historically, once this happens on a summer Friday (although fall officially began yesterday), it becomes difficult for the markets to make a sharp comeback. The DOW lost 131 points today, the NASDAQ dropped 33, and the S&P 500 closed down 12 points.
There were some individual stocks that headed higher today including AMZN, NFLX, TWTR, GPRO, TSLA, and WMT.
Breadth numbers were poor at a 1 to 2 downside ratio, displaying very little leadership. The VIX was higher by 2% today to finish at 12.29.
Bond yields were unchanged as the dollar weakened a little. The Euro was up a bit to 1.1227 and gold was flat at 1,342 an ounce. Crude oil sold off sharply and closed down 3.5% to $44.68 a barrel. The Saudis are saying that they are not in favor of an output agreement to stabilize prices.
Donald M. Selkin
These are excerpts from Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes, abbreviated and updated with permission from the Author. Don Selkin is the Chief Market Strategist at National Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC, (NSC) and provides the Fair Value analysis for CNBC each morning. The commentary provided in this Market Letter is intended to provide our customers with timely market analysis and should not be considered a research report. This Market Letter may contain, and is limited to: Discussions of broad based indices; Commentaries on economic, political or market conditions; Technical analyses concerning the demand and supply for a sector, index or industry based in trading volume and price; Statistical summaries of multiple companies’ financial data, including listings of current ratings; and, Recommendations regarding increasing or decreasing holdings in particular industries or securities. This Market Letter does not make a financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promotes a product or service of the firm. This Market Letter contains only news, facts, and commentary on information previously reported from a news source believed to be accurate and reliable by the author. These news sources include the following: Bloomberg Financial, Reuters, and the Associated Press.