Markets gapped strongly higher Thursday and then followed through slowly the rest of the day.  SPY gapped up 1.05%, DIA gapped up 1.17%, and QQQ gapped up 1.35%.  From there, all three major index ETFs rallied until 12:30 p.m.  At that point pulled back slightly for 30 minutes and then resumed its rally until 3:45 p.m.  Only late-day profit-taking the last 15 minutes kept us from closing at the highs.  This action gave us gap-up, white-bodied candles in all three major index ETFs.  DIA printed a gap-up, white-bodied, Spinning Top.  Meanwhile, SPY and QQQ both gave us gap-up, white-bodied, large-body candles with small wicks on both ends.  (Bear in mind, that SPY is up 8.5% in nine days, QQQ is up 12% over that time, and slow, plodding DIA is up 5.5% in the same span.)  This all happened on just under average volume in all three of the major index ETFs.

On the day, nine of the 10 sectors were green with Consumer Cyclical (+2.69%) and Technology (+2.46%) out in front leading the gainers higher.  At the same time, Communication Services (-0.35%) was the only sector in the red and more than 0.50% worse-performing than the next most lagging sector.  Meanwhile, SPY gained 1.71%, DIA gained 1.45%, and QQQ gained 2.53%.  VXX fell another 3.82% to close at 45.34 and T2122 climbed into the overbought territory at 89.26.  On the bond front, 10-year bond yields spiked to 3.923% and Oil (WTI) gained 1.30% to close at $77.98 per barrel.  So, Thursday was the Bulls’ day from the 8:30 a.m. data drop onward.  SPY and QQQ crossed back above their 50sma.  However, all three major index ETFs are now quite stretched above their T-line (8ema) indicating the need for rest, pullback, and/or profit-taking.

The major economic news scheduled for Thursday included Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, which came in lower than expected at 227k (compared to a 236k forecast and the prior week’s 234k).  In terms of ongoing unemployment, the Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims were also down a bit at 1,864k (versus the 1,880k forecast and the prior week’s 1,871k).  At the same time, July Core Retail Sales were down a tick, but much better than expected at +0.4% (compared to the +0.1% forecast and the June +0.5% reading).  On the headline number, July Retail Sales were very strong at +1.0% (versus a forecast of +0.4% and much stronger than June’s -0.2% value).  In terms of manufacturing, the NY Empire State Mfg. Index was bad but better than predicted at -4.70 (compared to a -5.90 forecast and the July -6.60 number).  Down the road, the Philly Fed Mfg. Index was worse than anticipated at -7.0 (versus a +5.4 forecast and down sharply from July’s 13.9 reading). 

In terms of Manufacturing employment, the Philly Fed Mfg. Employment Index was -5.7 (down from July’s 13.9 value).  On the trade front, the July Export Price Index showed an increase of 0.7% month-to-month (compared to 0.0% forecast and June’s -0.3%).  At the same time, July Import Price Index was up a tick +0.1% (versus a forecast of -0.1% and June’s 0.0% number). Later, July Industrial Production was down to -0.6% (compared to a -0.3% forecast and June’s +0.3%). Later, June Business Inventories came in as expected at +0.3% (versus a +0.3% forecast and a May +0.5% reading).  At the same time, June Retail Inventories were also as predicted at +0.2% (compared to the +0.2% forecast and up a touch from May’s 0.0% value).  Later, June TIC Net Long-Term Transactions showed a large increase to +$96.1 billion (versus a +$56.3 billion forecast and well up from May’s -$54.1 billion reading.  Finally, after the close, the Fed Balance Sheet showed a small expansion for the week to $7.178 trillion from the prior week’s $7.175 trillion.

In Fed news, on Thursday St. Louis Fed President Musalem indicated he was more open to a rate cut than before.  Speaking in KY, Musalem said his confidence (that inflation is going down) was bolstered by recent data.  He continued, “It now appears the balance of risks on inflation and unemployment has shifted … the time may be nearing when an adjustment to moderately restrictive policy may be appropriate.”  At the same time, in a Financial Times interview, Atlanta Fed President Bostic said he is now open to a rate cut in September (the opposite of his public expressions recently).  Bostic said, “Now that inflation is coming into range, we have to look at the other side of the mandate, and there, we’ve seen the unemployment rate rise considerably off of its lows.”  He continued, “…and so I’m open to something happening in terms of us moving before the fourth quarter.” Later, Philly Fed President Harker told an economic conference that a rate cut is the next step for monetary policy and the timing may be getting closer.  However, he hedged on when that might take place.  In response to a question implying an intra-meeting cut, Harker said, “I believe that we may be in the position to see the rate decrease this year … But I would caution anyone from looking for it right now and right away.”

After the close, AMAT, COHR, GLOB, HRB, and LNVGY all reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, AMCR missed on revenue while beating on earnings.

In stock news, on Thursday, LMT announced it has agreed to acquire LLAP for $450 million.  Later, GOOGL announced it is expanding its AI-generated summaries of searches to six new countries two months after first rolling out the feature.  In addition to the US (where the feature has been available since May), Brazil, India, Japan, Mexico and Britain now have access to AI summaries.  After the close, KR announced plans to cut prices by $1 billion after its $25 billion acquisition of ACI closes.  (KR had previously promised $500 million in lower prices across all acquired ACI locations.)

In stock legal and governmental news, on Thursday, CVX agreed to pay $550 million to Richmond, CA in a settlement.  The deal will see CVX buy the city’s withdrawal of a November ballot initiative that would have sought a tax on refineries in the city. (CVX has a refinery that produces 250k barrels per day inside the city limits.)  Later, the FDA laid out new stricter goals for sodium content of packaged foods. In the announcement, the FDA said it was seeking “voluntary curbs” from packaged food makers like PEP, KHC, and CPB.  However, fast-food chains such as MCD, QSR (Burger King), and YUM would also be on the hook.  The cuts, with a goal of within three years, would cut sodium to 20% below the 2021 levels. 

Elsewhere, TEL agreed to pay a $5.8 million fine to the Dept. of Commerce for illegally shipping electronics components to China.  Later, the State Dept. approved a $5 billion sale of LMT’s Patriot missiles to Germany.  In Canada, the national government rejected the request from CNI (Canadian National Railway) for imposed binding arbitration between the railroad and its Teamster Union employees.  (The railroad, along with CP, have said they will lock out employees starting August 22 to avoid an employee strike.)  At the same time, a second federal court (this on in FL) has blocked the FTC ban on worker noncompete agreements.  Later, a federal judge in CA ruled that PEP can be sued over marketing for its Gatorade Protein bars.  (The bars have more sugar than protein, which is more typical of candy bars than protein bars.)  At the same time, STLA shareholders filed suit against the company, alleging fraud under the accusation the company concealed rising inventories and sales weakness prior to the company’s July 25 earnings report. 

Meanwhile, in CA, Governor Newsom proposed a plan requiring refiners in the state to maintain minimum reserves of gasoline.  The measure, aimed at curbing gas prices is aimed at a situation where the states refiners had less than a 15-day supply of gas in inventory 63 days in 2023. (A study found that prices spiked when refiners let inventory fall because they were taking refineries offline to increase prices.)  Later, BAYRY (Bayer) won a legal fight Thursday when the US 3^rd-Ciruit Court of Appeals rejected a claim by a PA landscraper which alleged the company’s Roundup weedkiller did not carry a warning label and caused his cancer sue to repeated and prolonged use.  The court ruled that federal law protects the German parent company from liability from state laws requiring a cancer label.

Overnight, Asian markets were nearly all green.  Only Shenzhen (-0.24%) was in the red while Japan (+3.64%), Taiwan (+2.07%), South Korea (+1.99%), and Hong Kong (+1.88%) led broad and strong gains.  In Europe, the picture is more mixed with six of 15 exchanges in the red.  The CAC (+0.18%), DAX (+0.52%), and FTSE (-0.46%) lead the region in early afternoon trade.  Meanwhile, in the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a start just on the red side of flat.  The DIA implies a -0.08% open, the SPY is implying a -0.11% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.02% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are down to 3.873% and Oil (WTI) is off  2.83% to $75.96 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Friday includes July Building Permits and July Housing Starts (both at 8:30 a.m.), and then Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations (all at 10 a.m.)  The major earnings reports scheduled for before the open is limited to FLO.  There are not reports scheduled for after the close.

So far this morning, missed on revenue while beating on earnings.

In miscellaneous news, on Thursday, GS lowered its Q3 GDP forecast from 2.6% to 2.4% after disappointing industrial production data for July.  Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported Thursday that GS is telling clients it expects a rally based on the return of so-called systematic funds.  These funds had made the largest dollar-volume selling since the pandemic over the past month, based on volatility index signals.  However, now the VIX has returned to the levels seen in May-July in the last week, those funds are and will be returning to the buy-side.  Meanwhile, Bloomberg also reported that ADSK is likely to face legal action.  It reported internal documents from ADSK that said the company had continued using the sales strategy of offering deep discounts on multi-year deals to corporate customers who pay up front. The company pledged to investors to stop using the tactic in 2021, but internal documents say the company has continued using the strategy in order to pull forward cashflow and meet short-term financial goals.

In late-breaking news, WMT raised its guidance for the full year citing steady consumer health and the relative strength of the overall economy. WMT CFO Rainey said, “…our members and customers…remain choiceful, discerning, value-seeking, focusing on things like essentials rather than discretionary items, but importantly, we don’t see any additional fraying of consumer health.”  Still, while raising its full-year 2024 forecast, the numbers do point to a second half that is not quite as strong as the first six months.  They are just stronger than earlier predicted.  Elsewhere, the Biden Administration released the prices for the first 10 drugs that resulted from the first-ever Medicare price negotiations. BMY, LLY, JNJ, MRK, AZN, NVS, AMGN, ABBV, and NVO are makers of those first 10 drugs subject to price negotiation and the White House says the lower prices will save Medicare $6 billion in the first year (based on 2023 drug demand data).

With that background, all three major index ETFs gapped up modestly to start the premarket. However, all three have also sold off in a more or less volatile way during the early session and are now back to just below flat so far this morning. All three are still extended above their T-line (8ema) and the short-term trend is clearly strongly bullish (even if the Bears could say they’re just in strong Bear Flag patterns). Meanwhile, the mid-term trend remains bearish, but with the downtrend line under pressure. In the long-term, we are now clearly back in a Bull trend. In terms of extension, as I mentioned all three are stretched to the upside relative to their T-line. At the same time, the T2122 indicator is now in the middle of its overbought territory. So, the market is in need of a rest or pullback. Don’t be surprised if we see some Friday profit-taking. With that said, remember the market can remain overextended a lot longer than we can stay solvent predicting a reversal. So, keep the mantra “follow, don’t lead” in mind. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, six of them are in the green, led by NFLX (+0.46%) and the biggest dog, NVDA (+0.44%) pacing the gains. Finally, remember its Friday. So, prepare your account for the weekend news cycle and also bear in mind that today is options expiration day.

As always, be deliberate and disciplined…but don’t be stubborn. If you have a loss, admit you were wrong and take that loss before it gets out of hand. And when the price does move in your direction, always move your stops in your favor and take a little profit off the table. You have to keep the “Legend of the Man in the Green Bathrobe” in mind. In a winning situation, it is NOT HOUSE MONEY you’re betting, it’s YOUR MONEY! There is no reason to keep raising your bet (risk) size just because you’ve had a win. Finally, remember that trading is not a hobby, it’s a job. The gains are real and so is the risk. So, treat it that way. Do the work and follow the process. Stick to your trading rules, trade with the trend, and take those profits when you have them. Do the work!

See you in the trading room.

Ed

🎯 Mike Probst: Rick, Got CTL off the scanner today. Already up 30%. Love it.

🎯 Dick Carp: the scanner paid for the year with HES-thank you

🎯 Arnoldo Bolanos: LTA scanner really works $$, thanks Ed.

🎯 Bob S: LTA is incredible…. I use it … would not trade without it

🎯 Malcolm .: Posted in room 2, @Rick… I used the LTA Scanner to go through hundreds of stocks this weekend and picked out three to trade:  PYPL, TGT, and ZS.   Quality patterns and with my trading, up 24%, 7% and 12%…. this program is gold.

🎯 Friday 6/21/19  (10:09 am) Aaron B: Today, my account is at +190% since January. Thanks, RWO HRC Flash Malcolm Thomas Steve Ed Bob S Bob C Mike P and everyone that contributes every day. I love our job.

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