Regional Bank Woes Offset Earnings

Wednesday was not the day most would have expected as regional bank woes offset earnings from the tech giants that beat estimates.  Today could be as volatile with a huge round of earnings and economic reports while the banking uncertainty continues to worry markets not to mention depositors!  META results will keep the tech sector inspired as we wait for AMZN after the bell today to report their results.  Pops, drops, and whipsaws are likely as so continue to expect challenging price action as details emerge and banking worries simmer.

As we slept Asian markets saw mostly modest gains as the new Bank of Japan chief takes the reins.  European markets trade mixes and near the flatline even as Barclays eases bank fears beating expectations.  Once again U.S. futures shrug off the banking issues pointing to a substantial gap up open as earnings inspire the fear of missing out with a premarket pump.  Plan for another wild day as market-moving data rolls out.

Economic Calendar

Earnings Calendar

Notable reports for Wednesday include AOS, ABBV, ATVI, AMZN, ALL, AMGN, MO, B, BZH, BJRI, BMY, BC, SAM, COF, CAT, CHE, CC, CHD, CINF, NET, CMCSA, COUR, CROX, CUBE, CLR, DPZ, LLY, ESS, FHI, FSLR, FE, GLPI, GILD, GWW, HOG, HAS, HTLD, HAY, HTZ, HGV, HON, HUBG, INTC, IP, JKS, KDP, LHX, LEA, LIN, MA, MRK, MHK, MDLZ, NOC, OLN, OSTK, BTU, PINS, ROK, SPGI, SNY, SGEN, SIRI, SKK, SNAP, SO, LUV, STM, SKT, TMUS, TSCO, X, VLO, WDC, WY, WTW, & XEL.

News & Technicals’

Meta, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, surprised investors with a strong earnings report for the first quarter of 2023. The company reported an unexpected increase in revenue of 12% year-over-year, after three consecutive quarters of declines due to regulatory pressures and user backlash. Meta also raised its guidance for the second quarter, projecting revenue growth of 15% to 18%, well above analysts’ estimates. The stock jumped 8% in after-hours trading, extending its 2023 rally of 35%. Meta attributed its performance to the growth of its virtual reality and augmented reality products, as well as its e-commerce and advertising businesses.

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones, suffered a sharp drop in profit in the first quarter of 2023 due to the persistent slump in the chip market and weak demand. The company reported an operating profit of 640 billion Korean won (roughly $478.55 million), a 95% decline from 14.12 trillion won a year earlier, marking its worst quarterly result since the first quarter of 2009. Samsung’s memory chip business, which accounts for more than half of its revenue, saw its profit plunge by 71% as prices for DRAM and NAND chips continued to fall amid oversupply and sluggish demand from data center and smartphone customers. Samsung’s mobile division, however, posted a 40% increase in profit thanks to the launch of its latest flagship smartphone, the S23 series, which feature improved cameras and battery life.

Investors are facing a huge amount of confusion as they grapple with the conflicting signals of recession risk and inflation fears, according to a strategist. Bob Parker, senior advisor at International Capital Markets Association, said the market was struggling to reconcile the possibility of a global economic slowdown in 2023 with the rising prices of commodities and consumer goods. “I think the big theme in markets at the moment is confusion,” Parker told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday. He added that investors were unsure whether to buy cyclical stocks that benefit from economic growth or defensive stocks that offer protection in a downturn. Giles Keating, director at Bitcoin Suisse, echoed Parker’s sentiment and said there was a general pessimism about the outlook for the world economy.

The U.S. stock market ended the day mixed as regional bank woes offset the positive impact of strong earnings from tech giants. The Dow and the S&P 500 moved lower with their 50-day average support near, while the Nasdaq gained ground boosted by earnings estimate beats. First Republic’s stock plunged nearly 30% following reports that the Fed may limit its borrowing capacity due to its shrinking deposits. The bank had reported a 40% drop in deposits in the first quarter a day earlier. Today we have a huge day of earnings that includes AMZN after the bell as well as market-moving GDP, Jobless Claims, and Pending Home Sales economic reports.  Watch for pops, drops, and whipsaws, and don’t rule out the possibility of a SPY and DIA 50-day morning average test particularly if banking concerns persist.

Trade Wisely,

Doug

Big Tech Beats Amid Mostly Good Reports

On Tuesday, the bears had their day.  The SPY and QQQ were in sync, as both those indices gapped lower at the open (down 0.49% in the SPY and down 0.51% in the QQQ).  At that point, both began selling off in a slow, steady fashion for the rest of the day.  Meanwhile, the DIA held up better, gapping down 0.11% at the open.  It then ground sound sideways until 11:20 am.  From that point, DIA joined the other major indices by selling off in a slow, steady way for the remainder of the day.  All three major indices closed very near their lows of the day.  This action gave us three large, black-bodied candles in the SPY, DIA, and QQQ.  All the major indices dropped out of their recent consolidation ranges and at least the SPY and QQQ have broken their uptrends dating back to mid-March. 

On the day, all 10 sectors were in the red with Technology (-2.48%) leading the charge lower (but it was a broad-based selloff) and Utilities (-0.34%) holding up better than the other sectors.  At the same time, the SPY lost 1.57%, DIA lost 1.01%, and QQQ lost 1.89%.  VXX spiked higher by 8.46% to 42.29 and T2122 dropped all the way down well into the oversold territory at 11.72.  10-year bond yields plummeted to 3.396% while Oil (WTI) fell 2.12% to $77.09 per barrel.  So, despite good earnings reports from major companies, markets seemed to focus on the FRC 40% deposit outflow in Q1 that had been reported Monday night as well as that company exploring asset sales to reduce the bank’s liabilities.  As a result, the bears had their way all day.  However, this move happened on less-than-average volume in all three major indices.     

In economic news, March Building Permits came in much better than the Preliminary number reported last week (better than expected) but still down significantly from the blowout number in February.  The reading was 1.430 million (compares to a forecast of 1.413 million but well below the February value of 1.550 million).  This amounted to a 7.7% decrease compared to February, that was significantly better than the preliminary number which was down 8.8%.  Later Conference Board Consumer Confidence came in at 101.3 (compared to a forecast of 104.0 and the previous reading of 104.0).  This was the lowest reading since July 2022.  Meanwhile, March New Home Sales blew away expectations at 683k (versus a forecast of 630k and a February reading of 623k).  This was a one-year high and amounted to a 9.6% month-on-month increase when only a 1.1% increase was anticipated.  Finally, after the close, the API Weekly Crude Stock Report showed a much larger than expected drawdown of 6.083 million barrels (compared to a forecast of a 1.667-million-barrel drawdown and following last week’s 2.675-million-barrel draw of crude stocks).  This was the second consecutive drawdown as well as the fourth in five weeks.

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In stock news, MBGAF (Mercedes) launched what it said will be its last new internal combustion engine car.  The next generation E-class will be available in early 2024.  In other auto news, GM announced it will end the production of its first-generation electric vehicle Chevy Bolt later in 2023 as the company shifts to focus more on zero-emission trucks and SUVs.  In addition, LCID announced it has begun “public road testing” of its next model, a large SUV called Gravity.  The Gravity is not scheduled for release until 2024.  Meanwhile, the Wall Street journal reported that GPS is eliminating hundreds of jobs (reportedly more than the 500 eliminated in September).  Elsewhere, Reuters reported that BIIB said Tuesday that it will “pause or discontinue” four studies focused on potentially lucrative drugs as part of its cost-cutting plan.  For most businesses, cost-cutting is great.  However, in biotech, company value is usually tied closely to its drug pipeline and eliminating studies on new potential drugs thins the potential revenue streams. 

In stock legal and regulatory news, BTI agreed to pay more than $635 million to the US government after its subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate sanctions against selling products to North Korea from 2007-2017.  Elsewhere, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Mgmt. said it has finalized the designation of 10 million acres in the Gulf of Maine for potential offshore wind development.  A 45-day public comment has begun and approval could come later this year.  Companies such as AGR and RWEOY have expressed interest in developing projects in the designated area.  Meanwhile, the EU has singled out 19 tech giants as companies subject to the region’s new online content rules.  This includes the usual suspects (GOOGL, MSFT, AAPL, META, AMZN, SNAP, PINS, BABA, etc.).  Later, Reuters reported that ALB and SQM have begun talks with the government of Chile after the state announced they are nationalizing the lithium mining industry in their country.  (ALB and SQM are the world’s largest lithium miners.)  Theoretically, ALB has a contract to operate in Chile until 2043 but the SQM contract ends this year.  Finally, The Governor of CO signed the nation’s first “right to repair” law into existence Tuesday.  The law requires farm machinery makers (such as DE and CNHI) to provide diagnostic tools, manuals, and parts to farmers who want to repair the machinery they own (as opposed to only being allowed to use exorbitant manufacturer repair services).

After the close, GOOGL, GOOG, MSFT, CB, V, UHS, CMG, OI, ILMN, JNPR, BYD, BXP, NEX, MTDR, CSGP, HA, JBT, LRN, UMBF, and PACW all reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, TXN, TX, WIRE, ENPH, and ENVA all missed on revenue while beating on the earnings line.  On the other side, AGR, RUSHA, and EQR beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, TFII and WFG missed on both the top and bottom lines. It is worth noting that V, OI, CSGP, and LRN all raised their forward guidance.  However, NEX and ENPH lowered their forward guidance.  Major surprises included TX (95% upside surprise on earnings), WFG (185% downside surprise on earnings), OI (55% upside earnings surprise), ILMN (300% upside earnings surprise) , WIRE (20% upside earnings surprise), JBT (31% upside earnings surprise), LRN (20% upside earnings surprise), UMBF (46% upside revenue surprise), and PACW (74% upside revenue surprise).

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed on modest moves in both directions.  Malaysia (-0.77%), New Zealand (-0.76%), and Japan (-0.71%) paced the losses.  Meanwhile, Hong Kong (+0.71%), Shenzhen (+0.33%), and India (+0.25%) led the gains.  In Europe, the bourses are mostly in the red on divergent trading at midday.  The CAC (-1.06%), DAX (-0.75%), and FTSE (-0.42%) are leading the region lower in early afternoon trade.  As of 7:30 am, US Futures are pointing to a mixed and divergent start to the day.  The DIA implies a -0.09% open, the SPY is implying a +0.04% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.79% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-year bond yields are close to flat at 3.396% and Oil (WTI) is off a third of a percent to $76.82/barrel in early trading.

The major economic news events scheduled for Wednesday include March Durable Goods, March Goods Trade Balance, and Preliminary March Retail Inventories (all at 8:30 am), and EIA Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 am) are reported.  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include ALLE, AMT, APH, ADP, AVY, BA, BOKF, BSX, CVE, GIB, CME, CSTM, DOV, ETR, EVR, FSV, FTV, GD, GPI, HES, HLT, HUM, NSP, MHO, MAS, NSC, ODFL, OTIS, OC, PAG, BPOP, PRG, RCI, RES, R, SLGN, TMHC, TEL, TECK, TDY, TMO, TNL, UMC, VRT, WNC, WAB, and WFRD before the open.  Then, after the close, ACHC, AFL, ALGN, AB, AWK, NLY, AR, ACGL, ASGN, AVB, AXS, BMRN, CHRW, CACI, CP, CLS, CCS, CHDN, CMPR, FIX, EBAY, EW, ESI, EQT, FBIN, GGG, HELE, ICLR, IEX, KLAC, LSTR, MKL, MAT, MTH, META, MEOH, MAA, MOH, MYRG, NOV, ORLY, OII, PPC, PXD, PLXS, PTC, RJF, RHI, ROKU, ROL, NOW, SNBR, STC, SUI, TDOC, TER, TNET, TROX, TYL, URI, WCN, WSC, and WM report.  

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, we get Preliminary Q1 GDP, Weekly Jobless Claims, and March Pending Home Sales.  Finally, on Friday, Q1 Employment Cost Index, March PCE Price Index, March Personal Spending, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Consumer Sentiment.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, AOS, ABBV, MO, AAL, AIT, ARCH, AMBP, AZN, BAX, BFH, BMY, BC, CRS, CARR, CAT, CBRE, CNP, CHD, CMS, CNX, CMCSA, CROX, CRF, DQ, DPZ, DTE, LLY, EME, FIS, FAF, FCFS, FCN, GOL, HOG, HAS, HP, HSY, HTZ, HGV, HON, IP, IPG, IQV, KDP, KEX, LEA, LII, LECO, LIN, LKQ, HZO, MA, MRK, NEM, NOC, ORI, OSK, PATK, PTEN, BTU, PNR, DGX, RS, ROK, ROP, SPGI, SNY, SNDR, SIRI, SAH, SO, LUV, SAVE, SRCL, STM, FTI, TXT, TTE, TSCO, TPH, VLO, VLY, VC, GWW, WST, WEX, WTW, WIT, XEL, ATVI, AEM, ALSN, AMZN, AMGN, ATR, ACA, AJG, BZH, COF, CSL, SS, SINF, COLM, DXCM, DLR, EMN, EHC, ERIE, FLSR, FE, GFL, GILD, HIG, PEAK, HUBG, INTC, LHX, LPLA, MTX, MHK, MDLZ, OLN, PINS, PFG, RSG, RMD, SGEN, SKX, SKYW, SM, SNAP, AWN, SSNC, TMUS, X, WY, and INT report.  Finally, on Friday, AON, ARCB, ARES, AVTR, BLMN, CCJ, GTLS, CHTR, CVX, CL, DAN, XOM, FMX, GNTX, IMO, JKS, LAZ, LYB, NYCB, NWL, NHYDY, NVT, POR, SAIA, and TRP report.

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So far this morning, HUM, GSK, TMO, GD, PAG, ADP, TEL, GPI, OTIS, BSX, ASAZY, AMT, GIB, OC, UMC, MAS, DOV, WAB, HLT, TMHC, CME, TDY, VRT, NAVI, TNL, ALLE, PRG, SF, and TKGSY all beat on both the revenue and earnings lines.  At the same time, BA, ETR, CSTM, and WFRD all beat on revenue but missed on earnings.  On the other side, RCI, AVY, TLSNY, DASTY, SLGN, EVR, and WNC all missed on revenue while beating on earnings.  Unfortunately, CVE, TECK, ODFL, and RES all missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that AMT, ALLE, WNC, and HLT all raised their forward guidance.  Meanwhile, AVY is the only one to lower their forward guidance.  Major surprises included a 30% downside surprise on BA earnings, a 26% upside surprise on OC earnings, a 75% downside surprise on TLSNY revenue, a 38% upside surprise on UMC earnings, a 34% upside surprise on MAS earnings, a 35% upside surprise on TMHC earnings, a 41% upside surprise on VRT earnings, a massive 407% upside surprise on NAVI revenue (and a 21% upside earnings surprise), a 24% upside earnings surprise by EVR, a 32% upside surprise on PRG earnings, and a 131% upside surprise on WNC earnings (so much for regional bank issues).

With that background, it looks like the markets are trying to start the day inside of yesterday’s ugly candles. All three major indices are below their T-line and the T-line is descending. Over-extension is not a terrible problem based on T-line (although QQQ was a little stretched last night, the premarket candle is helping a lot) but we are oversold according to the T2122 indicator. Interestingly, the Fedwatch tool tells us that confidence in a 0.25% rate hike by the Fed next week is fading a bit. We are now down to an 80% probability of that, with the other 20% probability being “no hike.” Right now, the chart tells us the bias has flipped bearish after uptrends were broken yesterday, and since we have formed that lower low. However, we aren’t far from the consolidation range, and with good earnings to give them energy, the bulls are not likely to give in easily.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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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Cautious mood on Tuesday

As we waited on big tech reports worries of regional bank failures reemerged creating a cautious mood on Tuesday.  However, after the bell bullish earnings results from the tech giants generated big after-market gains in the sector with NASDAQ futures pointing to a huge gap up this morning. This bull/bear battle could provide significant price volatility today as we toss in another huge round of earnings and economic events to keep investors guessing.  Watch for the potential of intraday whipsaws particularly if the regional bank rout continues today.

Surprisingly even after strong tech earnings Asian markets closed mostly lower as banking worries overshadow earnings results.  European markets also trade red across the board this morning favoring the regional banking woes over the tech bullish results.  However, U.S. futures are going a different route, celebrating the tech reports suggesting a bullish gap up and shrugging off financial sector concerns. 

Economic Calendar

Earnings Calendar

Notable reports for Wednesday include ALGN, AB, AMT, AWK, NLY, ADP, AVP, BA, FFIV, CHRW, CP, CHDN, CME, DOV, EBAY, EW, ETR, EQT, ETD, GD, GGG, HELE, HP, HESS, HLT, HUM, KLAC, LC, MAS, MAT, MSFT, MTH, MOH, NSC, ODFL, ORLY, OTIS, QC, PAG, PTEN PPC, PXD, RJF, ROKU, R, NOW, SLAB, SAVE, SHOO, STAG, SUI, TEL, TDOC, TER, TMO, UMC, URI, WM, & WH.

News & Technicals’

The U.S. economy is facing a challenge from the banking sector, which has been hit by a crisis since the beginning of the year. The crisis has mainly affected small banks, which are the main source of credit for small businesses and households. As these banks reduce their lending, the impact will be felt by the average Americans who rely on them. However, the economy is still expected to show positive growth in the first quarter, thanks to the strong consumer spending that drives most of the economic activity. The future outlook will depend on how well the consumers can cope with the credit crunch.

First Republic is on the brink of collapse and needs a lifeline from its big bank peers. CNBC has learned that the bank’s advisors are trying to persuade other U.S. banks to buy its bonds at inflated prices, even if it means taking a hit of billions of dollars. The alternative is worse: If First Republic goes under, the other banks will have to pay about $30 billion in fees to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The advisors hope that by shoring up First Republic’s balance sheet, they can attract new investors who are willing to buy its stock.

The quarterly earnings season brought good news for three big companies on Tuesday. Microsoft delivered strong results on both the top and bottom lines, driven by the robust growth of its cloud services, especially Azure. The company also provided positive guidance for the next quarter. Alphabet, which owns Google, also beat the estimates on revenue and earnings and revealed a huge $70 billion share repurchase plan. The company was able to reduce its expenses and increase its online ad revenue in a tough market. Chipotle also impressed investors with its earnings and revenue, which were higher than what Wall Street expected. The restaurant chain achieved high growth in same-store sales, even though it hiked its menu prices by around 10% from a year ago.

Investors were in a cautious mood on Tuesday, as FRC plunged nearly 50% leading many regional banks lower, and raising worries of a remerging crisis in the sector.  However, the earnings reports of some of the biggest technology companies, such as Microsoft and Alphabet, beat estimates lifting bullish hopes in that sector as futures surge heading toward the Wednesday open.  The VIX rallied and the T2122 pulled back sharply finally reliving some of the overbought pressure in the indexes.  Today we have another huge round of earnings events with META after the bell as well as the market-moving economic report Durable Goods, International Trade and Petroleum Status.  Expect considerable volatility as bank worries and slowing economic growth battles the bullish reaction to better-than-expected tech results.

Trade Wisely,

Doug

Many Beats and Upside Surprises Today

The large-cap indices both opened flat on Monday and then spent the rest of the day wandering back and forth within a one-half of one percent range.  Both the SPY and DIA closed toward the top end of their range, crossing back above their T-line (8ema).  Meanwhile, QQQ also opened flat and meandered sideways for an hour.  However, at 10:30 am, QQQ saw a selloff that lasted until noon (at which point it was down 0.9% on the day).  Then the bulls stepped in to drive a long, slow rally that lasted the rest of the day.  This action gave us three indecisive candles with white, small candles in SPY and DIA as well as a black-bodied Spinning Top (which failed a retest of the T-line) in the QQQ.  This happened on far lower-than-average volume in all three major indices.

On the day, six of the sectors were in the green with Energy (+1.59%) by far the strongest and Communications Services (-0.69%) the weakest sector.  At the same time, the SPY gained 0.10%, DIA gained 0.19%, and QQQ lost 0.21%.  VXX fell by a half of a percent to 38.99 and T2122 remained flat in the mid-range at 62.42. 10-year bond yields fell to 3.496% while Oil (WTI) rose to $78.69 per barrel.  So, Monday was another clearly indecisive day where traders seemed unsure whether to give more credence to better-than-feared earnings or signs of economic slowdown.  And, while the probability of a quarter-point rate hike next week is 91%, that is not a certainty.  As a result, markets waffle sideways.     

In stock news, FOX stock took a massive hit midday before recovering by 2.25% over the afternoon.  This came after FOX’s midday firing of their number one-rated host, Tucker Carlson.  Elsewhere, LCID replaced three directors, effective immediately, at its shareholder meeting amid a 46% drop in share price since the end of January.  After the close, FRC reported earnings.  However, the larger story is that the regional banks said deposits fell by 35.5% during Q1.  The bank said it also plans to reduce its workforce by 20%-25% during Q2.  Meanwhile, JNJ priced its consumer unit spinoff IPO (KVUE) at $20-$23/share.  JNJ will continue to own 92% of KVUE after the IPO.  After the close, TSN closed a Nebraska pork processing plant after a weekend fire kept the facility closed.  The company is shipping hogs to other facilities in order to avoid supply disruptions.  Also after the close, AMZN delivery drivers in southern California joined the Teamster Union Monday.  Finally, Reuters reports that GM and Samsung will announce Tuesday that they plan to build a new joint-venture battery manufacturing plant in the US.  This will be the fourth battery plant GM has begun in the last year. 

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In stock legal and regulatory news, cancer victims had their chance to urge a US judge to dismiss JNJ’s second attempt to be granted bankruptcy for a subsidiary that was created to avoid legal liability from its talc products (which have been found to contain asbestos).  Lawyers for the 38,000 lawsuits against JNJ argued that the company has stripped away much of the subsidiary’s funding since the first bankruptcy attempt was denied and the move is a blatant move to force plaintiffs to accept the company’s offered settlement.  Elsewhere, a lawyer for the San Francisco’s public school system began trial against MO claiming the company helped create a crisis of vaping addiction among teenagers.  MO faces thousands of similar cases and the other primary target of the suits (Juul, which MO was a major investor in) settled for $2.7 billion rather than continue to trial.  Later, a US Appeals Court ruled AAPL cannot ban links to outside payment platforms, upholding a ruling in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite game maker Epic Games.  However, the appeals court ruled in AAPL’s favor on nine other matters, saying AAPL’s App Store rules do not violate antitrust laws.  After the close, the European Commission put forward a new draft of its patent rules (draft is to be released Wednesday).  The new rules will make it easier for patent holders of mobile technology technologies (AAPL, MSFT, MSI, NOK, SSNLF) to sue for patent infringement.  (The draft needs to be approved by both the EC and EU countries before they become law.)  Meanwhile, HRB and SQ agreed to dismiss with prejudice (it can’t be refiled) HRB’s lawsuit against SQ over use of the name “Block.”

In miscellaneous news, Canada announced new rules Monday that will force airlines with flights departing or landing in Canada to compensate all passengers for flight delays in essentially all cases other than snowstorms.  The burden of proof that there was no way to avoid the delay is now shifted to the airlines, rather than the passenger.  Democratic Senators introduced a bill Monday to prohibit members of Congress (and their immediate families) from owning individual stocks.  The bill is likely dead on arrival since a very similar bill was introduced and defeated in 2022 and a Republican Senator introduced a similar bill named after former House Speaker Pelosi and aimed at purely political ends back in January.

After the close, CLF, WHR, AMP, CNI, FRC, BRO, CDNS, ARE, SSD, CADE, and RRC all beat on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, CCK, CHX, and AAN missed on the revenue line while beating on earnings.  On the opposite side, NBR beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, PKG missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that CNI raised its forward guidance while PKG and CHX both lowered their guidance. 

Overnight, Asian markets were mostly in the red.  Hong Kong (-1.71%), Taiwan (-1.64%), and Shenzhen (-1.48%) led the region lower.  Meanwhile, New Zealand (+0.83%) was by far the biggest gainer in Asia.  In Europe, we nearly have red across the board at midday.  Only Switzerland (+0.47%) is in the green while the CAC (-0.64%), DAX (-0.16%), and FTSE (-0.31%) are leading the charge lower in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 am, Futures are also pointing toward a lower start to the day.  The DIA implies a -0.29% open, the SPY is implying a -0.49% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.42% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-year bond yields are falling again at 3.441% and Oil (WTI) is down 0.71% to $78.20/barrel in early trading.

The major economic news events scheduled for Tuesday include Building Permits (9:30 am…which is an hour later than normal), Conf. Board Consumer Confidence and March New Home Sales (both at 10 am), and API Weekly Crude Oil Stocks (4:30 pm).  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include MMM, ABB, ALFVY, ADM, ARCC, ABG, BIIB, CNC, GLW, DHR, DOW, FISV, GEHC, GE, GM, GEO, HAL, HUBB, IVZ, JBLU, KMB, LH, LTH, MCD, MCO, MSCI, NEE, NTRS, NVS, OMF, PCAR, PEP, PII, PHM, RTX, ST, SHW, SPOT, SCL, THC, TRU, UBS, UPS, VZ, and XRX before the open.  Then, after the close, GOOGL, AGR, BXP, BYD, CMG, CB, CSGP, WIRE, ENVA, ENPH, EQR, GOOG, HA, ILMN, JBT, JNPR, MTDR, MSFT, NEX, OI, RUSHA, TX, TXN, TFII, UHS, V, and WFG report.  

In economic news later this week, on Wednesday, March Durable Goods, March Goods Trade Balance, Preliminary March Retail Inventories, and EIA Crude Oil Inventories are reported.  On Thursday, we get Preliminary Q1 GDP, Weekly Jobless Claims, and March Pending Home Sales.  Finally, on Friday, Q1 Employment Cost Index, March PCE Price Index, March Personal Spending, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Consumer Sentiment.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Wednesday, we hear from ALLE, AMT, APH, ADP, AVY, BA, BOKF, BSX, CVE, GIB, CME, CSTM, DOV, ETR, EVR, FSV, FTV, GD, GPI, HES, HLT, HUM, NSP, MHO, MAS, NSC, ODFL, OTIS, OC, PAG, BPOP, PRG, RCI, RES, R, SLGN, TMHC, TEL, TECK, TDY, TMO, TNL, UMC, VRT, WNC, WAB, WFRD, ACHC, AFL, ALGN, AB, AWK, NLY, AR, ACGL, ASGN, AVB, AXS, BMRN, CHRW, CACI, CP, CLS, CCS, CHDN, CMPR, FIX, EBAY, EW, ESI, EQT, FBIN, GGG, HELE, ICLR, IEX, KLAC, LSTR, MKL, MAT, MTH, META, MEOH, MAA, MOH, MYRG, NOV, ORLY, OII, PPC, PXD, PLXS, PTC, RJF, RHI, ROKU, ROL, NOW, SNBR, STC, SUI, TDOC, TER, TNET, TROX, TYL, URI, WCN, WSC, and WM.  On Thursday, AOS, ABBV, MO, AAL, AIT, ARCH, AMBP, AZN, BAX, BFH, BMY, BC, CRS, CARR, CAT, CBRE, CNP, CHD, CMS, CNX, CMCSA, CROX, CRF, DQ, DPZ, DTE, LLY, EME, FIS, FAF, FCFS, FCN, GOL, HOG, HAS, HP, HSY, HTZ, HGV, HON, IP, IPG, IQV, KDP, KEX, LEA, LII, LECO, LIN, LKQ, HZO, MA, MRK, NEM, NOC, ORI, OSK, PATK, PTEN, BTU, PNR, DGX, RS, ROK, ROP, SPGI, SNY, SNDR, SIRI, SAH, SO, LUV, SAVE, SRCL, STM, FTI, TXT, TTE, TSCO, TPH, VLO, VLY, VC, GWW, WST, WEX, WTW, WIT, XEL, ATVI, AEM, ALSN, AMZN, AMGN, ATR, ACA, AJG, BZH, COF, CSL, SS, SINF, COLM, DXCM, DLR, EMN, EHC, ERIE, FLSR, FE, GFL, GILD, HIG, PEAK, HUBG, INTC, LHX, LPLA, MTX, MHK, MDLZ, OLN, PINS, PFG, RSG, RMD, SGEN, SKX, SKYW, SM, SNAP, AWN, SSNC, TMUS, X, WY, and INT report.  Finally, on Friday, AON, ARCB, ARES, AVTR, BLMN, CCJ, GTLS, CHTR, CVX, CL, DAN, XOM, FMX, GNTX, IMO, JKS, LAZ, LYB, NYCB, NWL, NHYDY, NVT, POR, SAIA, and TRP report.

LTA Scanning Software

So far this morning, GM, ADM, GE, PEP, RTX, DOW, NVS, MMM, DHR, ABB, MCD, SHW, THC, HAL, FISV, GLW, PHM BIIB, PII, JBLU, IVZ, MCO, ST, TRU, and GEHC have all reported beats on both the revenue and earrings lines.  Meanwhile, VZ, UPS, ABG, XRX, and MSCI all reported misses on revenue while beating on earnings.  On the other side, CNC, UBS, LH, OMF, SCL, GEO, and BKU all beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, SPOT and ARCC missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that GM has raised its forward guidance and, so far, there have been no lowered guidance reported.  Notable surprises include GE with an 108%, GM with a 40%, DOW with a 57%, XRX with a 133%, MCO with a 29%, and PHM with a 32% upside surprise on earnings.  Meanwhile, SPOT had a 26% downside surprise on earnings.  On revenue, UBS had a 41%, IVZ had a 31%, OMF a 21%, BKU a 74% upside surprise.  There were no notable downside revenue surprises.

With that background, it looks like the uncertain consolidation wants to continue in the DIA with yet another test of the flat T-line (8ema) likely in the cards today. However, SPY and QQQ look a little more bearish as they seem to be preparing to retest the lows of the last week this morning. However, it is not a huge bear move (at least yet) and still can’t be classified as anything more than a modest pullback. Over-extension is obviously not a problem in terms of the T-line or the T2122 indicator. Meanwhile, even though the Fedwatch tool tells us that there is an 89% probability of a quarter-point hike by the Fed next week, the market just isn’t sure and seems leery. Right now, the chart tells us to maintain a long bias, but expect consolidation to continue as the 3ema has crossed below the 8ema in all three major indices. Also, keep a sharp eye out for trend breaks.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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.

Hit and Run Candlesticks / Road To Wealth Youtube videos

Disclosure: We do not act on all trades we mention, and not all mentions acted on the day of the mention. All trades we mention are for your consideration only.

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DISCLAIMER: Investing / Trading involves significant financial risk and is not suitable for everyone. No communication from Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates or representatives is not financial or trading advice. All information provided by Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates and representatives are intended for educational purposes only. You are advised to test any new trading approach before implementing it.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Terms of Service

Coke Beats Uncertainty Remains

Friday saw an essentially flat open as the SPY gapped 0.10% higher, the DIA gapped 0.09% higher, and the QQQ gapped 0.13% lower.  From that point, both large-cap indices chopped sideways in a fairly tight range, ending the day inside the tiny opening gap.  Meanwhile, the QQQ did something similar but with stronger magnitude swings than the large-caps and ending up on the bullish side of the opening gap.  This action gave us indecisive Doji candles in the SPY and DIA (both of which retested their T-lines all day and ended right on that average) and a white-bodied Spinning Top candle in the QQQ that also retested its T-line (8ema) but failed to break above.  The moving averages are still stacked bullish (3ema > 8ema > 17ema > 50sma > 200sma) in all three major indices with the 3ema, 8ema, and 17ema all rising in the large-cap indices while the 3ema is falling slightly in the QQQ.

On the day, the sectors were split 50/50 with Healthcare (+1.20%) by far the strongest and Basic Materials (-1.52%) by far the weakest sectors.  At the same time, the SPY gained 0.08%, DIA gained 0.05%, and QQQ gained 0.10%.  VXX fell almost 2% to 39.20 and T2122 remained flat in the mid-range at 65.10. 10-year bond yields rose a bit to close at 3.568% while Oil (WTI) rose three-quarters of a percent to $77.95 per barrel.  So, Friday was clearly an indecisive day where trader seemed to ponder better than feared earnings, a seemingly resolute and unfazed Fed, and signs of economic slowdown or maybe even mild recession ahead.  This all happened on average volume in the QQQ with lower-than-average volume in the two large-cap indices.    

In economic news, Preliminary Manufacturing PMI came in slightly above expectation Friday at 50.4 (compared to a forecast of 49.0 and a March reading of 49.2).  (This puts this indicator right at flat since anything above 50.0 indicates growth and anything below this level indicates contraction.)  At the same time, Preliminary Service PMI also came in slightly above the anticipated value at 53.7 (versus a forecast of 51.5 and a March reading of 52.6).  Again, this indicates just a bit of growth in the services sector.  Meanwhile, the S&P Global Composite PMI (also preliminary) was reported at 53.5 (slightly better than the forecast of 52.8 and the March reading of 52.3). These all show very modest economic growth in the US and the world (if the data can be believed). Finally, the Fed’s “Inflation Expectations Index” (a new very broad-based tool the Fed developed in 2020) fell to its lowest level in almost two years as of the end of last quarter.  The IEI stood at 2.22% down from 2.31% at the end of December and below all readings going back to June 30, 2021, when it was at 2.18%. 

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In stock news, Reuters reported Friday that LLY will release results of an Alzheimer’s drug trial before the end of June.  The company told Reuters it expects Medicare to reverse course and fully cover the currently experimental drug (implying the trials went very well).  Rival drugs from BIIB and ESAIY are also scheduled to release studies in the next few months.  In other healthcare news, SWAV shares soared on Friday amid rumors that BSX is looking to takeover the medical device maker.  Elsewhere, China’s aviation regulator published a report telling its domestic airlines they can now take delivery of BA 737 MAX jets, subject to newly prescribed training.  This could be very positive for BA, which has 130 737 MAX jets finished and awaiting delivery to Chinese airlines.  Meanwhile, for the second time in a week, WMT sold off another of its online fashion brands to a private retailer.  This is part of a WMT push to improve margins after having bought the brand (Eloquii) in an attempt to compete with AMZN online.  In South America, Chile (the world’s second-largest producer) announced that it will be nationalizing its lithium industry.  This move will hit ALB and SQM hard and may have ripple impacts on TSLA (major customer of both SQM and ALB).  Finally, in it pays to be the boss news, GOOGL reported late Friday night that CEO Pinchai received $226 million in compensation (including $218 million in stock grants) in 2022 even as the company eliminate 12,000 jobs in January. 

In stock legal and regulatory news, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Fed may end the exemption that allowed midsized (regional) banks such as SIVB and SBNY to hide losses on securities they hold.  This would reverse the Trump-era loosening of Fed banking regulation. At the same time, Treasury Sec. Yellen proposed guidelines that would force more nonbank entities (financial institutions that 2019 rules allowed to avoid Dodd-Frank Act reporting and regulation) posing systemic risk to be subject to supervision.  Elsewhere, a US federal judge in Seattle ruled in favor of AMZN related to a consumer class-action lawsuit that accused the company of scheming to curb competition via the “Fulfillment by Amazon” program which then caused consumers to pay more than a free market would have.  (Appeal is expected.)  Meanwhile, a CA jury found that a TSLA autopilot feature did not fail in the first case involving that feature.  The jury could be a good sign as TSLA continues to roll out more advance “Full Self-Driving” features.  In other auto legal news, F defeated an appeal by consumers who had claimed the company cheated on fuel economy tests for Ranger and F-150 trucks.  At the same time, NLST won a $303 million federal jury verdict in TX against SSNLF (Samsung) over computer memory patent infringement.  In an old case, PARA has agreed to pay a $167.5 million settlement to former CBS stock shareholders related to the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS.

In miscellaneous news, on Sunday, BBBY filed for bankruptcy after failing to raise the money required to save the company.  The filing requested permission to auction off assets even as the firm’s 480 stores are expected to remain open until the assets are liquidated.  However, at the time of the filing, BBBY had stopped paying for the severance of laid-off workers. So, it is unknown if there will be willing employees to keep the doors open.  Elsewhere, CMCSA fired the CEO of its NBCUniversal unit Sunday after he admitted having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at the company.  Meanwhile, overnight, Bloomberg reported than hedge funds have placed the biggest futures short position in history on 10-year bonds (1.29 million contracts).  On its face, this would be a big bet that the US will see a mid-term recession.  However, the article quotes a Treasury Market analyst as saying this could be a bit misleading since hedge funds will often buy cash treasuries and then short the treasury futures in order to arbitrage the difference in price.

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed but leaned to the downside.  Shenzhen (-1.16%), South Korea (-0.82%), and Shanghai (-0.78%) paced the losses while New Zealand (+0.83%), India (+0.68%), and Taiwan (+0.15%) led the gainers.  In Europe, the bourses are also mixed but are leaning modestly toward the green at midday.  The DAX (+0.03%), CAC (-0.02%), and FTSE (-0.05%) lead the region with many of the smaller exchanges moving slightly more to the upside in early afternoon trade.  In the US, Futures are pointing toward a modestly lower start to the day.  The DIA implies a -0.14% open, the SPY is implying a -0.10% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.03% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-year bond yields are falling to 3.539% and Oil (WTI) is off three-tenths of a percent to $77.64/barrel in early trading.

There are no major economic news events scheduled for Monday.  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include KO, CS, GTX, and PHG before the open.  Then, after the close, AAN, ARE, AMP, BRO, CDNS, CNI, CHX, CLF, CCK, FRC, NBR, PKG, RRC, SSD, and WHR report. 

In economic news later this week, on Tuesday we get Building Permits, Conf. Board Consumer Confidence, March New Home Sales, and API Weekly Crude Oil Stocks.  Then Wednesday, March Durable Goods, March Goods Trade Balance, Preliminary March Retail Inventories, and EIA Crude Oil Inventories are reported.  On Thursday, we get Preliminary Q1 GDP, Weekly Jobless Claims, and March Pending Home Sales.  Finally, on Friday, Q1 Employment Cost Index, March PCE Price Index, March Personal Spending, Chicago PMI, and Michigan Consumer Sentiment.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Tuesday,  MMM, ABB, ALFVY, ADM, ARCC, ABG, BIIB, CNC, GLW, DHR, DOW, FISV, GEHC, GE, GM, GEO, HAL, HUBB, IVZ, JBLU, KMB, LH, LTH, MCD, MCO, MSCI, NEE, NTRS, NVS, OMF, PCAR, PEP, PII, PHM, RTX, ST, SHW, SPOT, SCL, THC, TRU, UBS, UPS, VZ, XRX, GOOGL, AGR, BXP, BYD, CMG, CB, CSGP, WIRE, ENVA, ENPH, EQR, GOOG, HA, ILMN, JBT, JNPR, MTDR, MSFT, NEX, OI, RUSHA, TX, TXN, TFII, UHS, V, and WFG reports.  Then Wednesday, we hear from ALLE, AMT, APH, ADP, AVY, BA, BOKF, BSX, CVE, GIB, CME, CSTM, DOV, ETR, EVR, FSV, FTV, GD, GPI, HES, HLT, HUM, NSP, MHO, MAS, NSC, ODFL, OTIS, OC, PAG, BPOP, PRG, RCI, RES, R, SLGN, TMHC, TEL, TECK, TDY, TMO, TNL, UMC, VRT, WNC, WAB, WFRD, ACHC, AFL, ALGN, AB, AWK, NLY, AR, ACGL, ASGN, AVB, AXS, BMRN, CHRW, CACI, CP, CLS, CCS, CHDN, CMPR, FIX, EBAY, EW, ESI, EQT, FBIN, GGG, HELE, ICLR, IEX, KLAC, LSTR, MKL, MAT, MTH, META, MEOH, MAA, MOH, MYRG, NOV, ORLY, OII, PPC, PXD, PLXS, PTC, RJF, RHI, ROKU, ROL, NOW, SNBR, STC, SUI, TDOC, TER, TNET, TROX, TYL, URI, WCN, WSC, and WM.  On Thursday, AOS, ABBV, MO, AAL, AIT, ARCH, AMBP, AZN, BAX, BFH, BMY, BC, CRS, CARR, CAT, CBRE, CNP, CHD, CMS, CNX, CMCSA, CROX, CRF, DQ, DPZ, DTE, LLY, EME, FIS, FAF, FCFS, FCN, GOL, HOG, HAS, HP, HSY, HTZ, HGV, HON, IP, IPG, IQV, KDP, KEX, LEA, LII, LECO, LIN, LKQ, HZO, MA, MRK, NEM, NOC, ORI, OSK, PATK, PTEN, BTU, PNR, DGX, RS, ROK, ROP, SPGI, SNY, SNDR, SIRI, SAH, SO, LUV, SAVE, SRCL, STM, FTI, TXT, TTE, TSCO, TPH, VLO, VLY, VC, GWW, WST, WEX, WTW, WIT, XEL, ATVI, AEM, ALSN, AMZN, AMGN, ATR, ACA, AJG, BZH, COF, CSL, SS, SINF, COLM, DXCM, DLR, EMN, EHC, ERIE, FLSR, FE, GFL, GILD, HIG, PEAK, HUBG, INTC, LHX, LPLA, MTX, MHK, MDLZ, OLN, PINS, PFG, RSG, RMD, SGEN, SKX, SKYW, SM, SNAP, AWN, SSNC, TMUS, X, WY, and INT report.  Finally, on Friday, AON, ARCB, ARES, AVTR, BLMN, CCJ, GTLS, CHTR, CVX, CL, DAN, XOM, FMX, GNTX, IMO, JKS, LAZ, LYB, NYCB, NWL, NHYDY, NVT, POR, SAIA, and TRP report.

LTA Scanning Software

In what BUD hopes will end the recent conservative indignation and boycott over a (small by BUD standards) Bud Light line advertising campaign featuring a “trans online influencer”, the company has taken action related to the incident. BUD placed the Bud Light VP of Marketing and her boss on leave. Sales figures show that Bud Light sales fell 10.7% the week following the uproar. However, there was a somewhat corresponding uptick in other BUD brand sales. BUD stock has fallen 1% over the weeks since the campaign made news, meaning that no impact from the uproar is apparent in the market value of the company at least yet. In unrelated news, TAP took a hit over the weekend as Belgium customs destroyed thousands of Miller High Life beers. Like the American conservatives, Belgium apparently (suddenly) took offense that Miller High Life labels itself “the Champagne of beers.” (Although what that has to do with Belgium, as opposed to France, or why the outrage manifested itself now, after decades of Miller using that slogan, beats me.)

So far this morning, KO, CS, and PHG all reported beats on the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, GTX beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  Oddly, the biggest shock was a 43.2% upside revenue surprise from CS (despite it having been sold to avoid failing during the quarter).  PHG also had a 26% upside surprise on earnings but GTX had a 38% downside surprise on the same line. 

With that background, it looks like all three major indices have climbed back to flat and will be thinking about retesting their T-lines this morning. The consolidation or modest pullback seem to remain underway. Even though more than 90% (according to Fedwatch) of the market is sure there will be just a quarter-point hike at the next Fed meeting a week from Wednesday, uncertainty still abounds. Over-extension is obviously not a problem in terms of the T-line or the T2122 indicator. SPY and QQQ seem to be testing a potential support level but DIA does not have that obvious level helping it below. Right now, the chart tells us to maintain a long bias but be wary of weakening bulls and keep an eye out for trend breaks.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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.

Hit and Run Candlesticks / Road To Wealth Youtube videos

Disclosure: We do not act on all trades we mention, and not all mentions acted on the day of the mention. All trades we mention are for your consideration only.

Free YouTube Education  •  Subscription PlansPrivate 2-Hour Coaching

DISCLAIMER: Investing / Trading involves significant financial risk and is not suitable for everyone. No communication from Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates or representatives is not financial or trading advice. All information provided by Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates and representatives are intended for educational purposes only. You are advised to test any new trading approach before implementing it.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Terms of Service

Equities Lacked Momentum

Equities Lacked Momentum

Indexes remained stuck in the recent trading range as equities lacked momentum as investors worry how the slowing economic conditions may affect the pending tech giant’s earnings.   The reports Tuesday afternoon from MSFT and GOOG may well inspire to finally break this frustrating chop zone.  However, the question remains will it be a bullish or bearish inspiration? Plan for more chop as traders ponder the outcome with several market-moving economic reports tossed in for added uncertainty. 

Asian market primarily declined during the night as lackluster economic growth and geopolitical concerns weigh on investors’ minds.  European markets trade flat to slightly lower this morning as bond yields and pending earnings cloud the path forward.  U.S. futures also indicate a slightly bearish open as we wait to see if the big rally in the tech giants can be justified by the pending earnings.  Plan for some big price moves once the data is reviled but until then expect more choppy uncertain price action.

Economic Calendar

Earnings Calendar

Notable reports for Monday include AGNC, ARE, BOH, CDNS, CLF, CO, CR, FRC, PKG, PHG, PCH, RRC, WSBC, & WHR.

News & Technicals’

More and more countries are calling for trade to be carried out in other currencies besides the U.S. dollar. For instance, Brazil and Argentina have discussed the creation of a common currency for the two largest economies in South America. In a conference in Singapore in January, multiple former Southeast Asian officials spoke about de-dollarization efforts underway. The UAE and India are in talks to use rupees to trade non-oil commodities in a shift away from the dollar. Saudi Arabia said that the oil-rich nation is open to trading in currencies besides the U.S. dollar. However, it’s worth noting that despite these efforts, the U.S. dollar remains dominant in global forex reserves even though its share in central banks’ foreign exchange reserves has dropped from more than 70% in 1999.

Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for bankruptcy protection and has begun a “limited sale and marketing process for some or all of its assets”. The company’s 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and 120 buybuy BABY stores will remain open for the time being as it works to liquidate assets. The struggling home goods retailer has been warning of a potential bankruptcy since early January.

Swiss authorities brokered a controversial 3 billion Swiss franc deal over the course of a weekend in late March between UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse. The acquisition is expected to be consummated by the end of this year. However, the full absorption of Credit Suisse’s business into UBS Group is expected to take around three to four years.

On Friday, equities lacked momentum with the S&P 500 closing up about 0.1% and the Dow adding 22 points. The focus remained on incoming earnings results, as worries of slowing economic conditions and how that may affect the pending earnings of the tech giants. The bond market also saw modest moves on the day, with 10-year Treasury yields ticking slightly higher, remaining just below the 3.6% mark. The consumer staples, health care, and utility sectors were among the leaders of the day, while financials, technology, and commodity-related sectors were laggards.  Today could see more directionless chop as we wait for MSFT and GOOG reports Tuesday after the bell which may finally break the indexes from this frustrating trading range.

Trade Wisely,

Doug

PG, HCA, and SLB Lead Earnings News

On Thursday, markets gapped lower again (opening down 0.69% in the SPY, down 0.43% in the DIA, and down 0.97% in the QQQ).  At that point, all three major indices began a long, slow, meandering rally until they reached the highs of the day at about 1:30 pm.  From there, a quicker selloff took the SPY, DIA, and QQQ back to the lows of the day with only some last-minute profit taking closed all the major indices out just up off the lows.  This action gave us indecisive, white-bodied, Spinning Top or Doji-type candles that gapped below their T-line, retested it, and closed just below.  That tends to tell us that markets have not made up their mind yet.  Again, this all happened on lower-than-average volume (much lower in the large-cap indices).

On the day, eight of the 10 sectors were in the red with Communications Services (-2.09%) leading the way lower (by over a percent) while Consumer Defensive (+0.32%) held up better than other sectors.  At the same time, the SPY lost 0.56%, DIA lost 0.31%, and QQQ lost 0.76%.  VXX gained 2.2% to 39.95 and T2122 fell further into the mid-range to 63.13.  10-year bond yields plummeted to close at 3.538% while Oil (WTI) dropped another 2.36% on the day to $77.29 per barrel.  So, Thursday was the second consecutive day that was teed up for the bears, they just could not get their job done.  However, unlike Wednesday, the Bulls also couldn’t keep momentum once they did step in to “buy the dip” at the open.  Accordingly, you could see this as just continued consolidation or as a hesitant start of a pullback within a bullish trend.  That trend is still intact with the 3ema > 8ema > 17ema > 50sma > 200sma in all but the QQQ, where the 3ema crossed just below the 8ema by a few pennies Thursday.    

In economic news, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims came in a bit above expectation at 245k (compared to a forecast of 240k and the prior week’s reading also of 240k).  At the same time, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index came in well below the anticipated number at -31.3 (versus a forecast of -19.2 and even below the March value of -23.2).  Meanwhile, March Existing Home Sales also came in a little light at 4.44 million (versus an expected 4.50 million and the February reading of 4.55 million).  After the close, the Fed Balance Sheet was reported at $8.593 trillion (as of April 20), which is down $22 billion from the prior week.  At the same time, Bank Balances with the Federal Reserve were reported at $3.165 trillion (as of April 20), which was down $185 billion from the prior week and was the third consecutive weekly decline. 

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In economic speak news, Treasury Sec. Yellen told a Johns Hopkins University audience that “the US banking system remains sound and the (US) government will take any necessary steps to keep it the strongest and safest financial system in the world.”  Later, Fed Governor Waller said that the Fed needs to consider the possible use of AI (which he said offers opportunities and risks) as a way to offset the speed at which customers can pull money out of banks.  “If they are going to have deposit flows being faster we need to think how do we (Fed) do pricing faster, how do we assess the collateral, that’s got to be faster…to make the discount window more effective, we have to be able to do things faster as well.” Waller said.  He also went on to mention that “things have kind of calmed down (in the banking sector).”  Then, at mid-afternoon, Cleveland Fed President Mester (non-voter) told a community roundtable that the Fed has interest rate increases ahead of it, but also said the aggressive move to boost the cost of borrowing to quash inflation is near an end.  (You have to love the doublespeak.)  However, she did go on to say she expects a “soft landing” when she said, “I do think we’re going to have very slow growth – I think growth will be well below 1%.”  Finally, she expects unemployment to top out at 4.5% to 4.75% (it is currently 3.5%) and expects inflation to get down to the Fed’s 2% target in 2025.

In stock news, the CEO of UNP said Thursday that the railroad will slow its pace of hiring in the second half of the year amid a cloudy economic outlook.  In IPO news, UCAR had an eventful first day, including several halts due to volatility. The announced IPO pricing was $6.00/share, while the stock opened at $8.10, reached a high of $75.00, and then closed at $43.18 in its first day of trading…on volume of 3.4 million shares.  (That is interesting since only 2.4 million shares were offered for sale.)  Elsewhere, LMT announced a new partnership with German defense industry leader RNMBF (Rheinmetall) to produce HIMARS rocket launching systems.  The production will take place in Germany but will include both US and German-made components.  Later, NOVA announced the US government would provide a partial loan guarantee of $3 billion to back financing of its solar rooftop systems.  The Dept. of Energy will give an indirect guarantee of 90% for $3.3 billion in customer solar panel installation loans.  Meanwhile, AMZN announced it has launched a program to identify and track sellers in its marketplace who sell counterfeit goods and share that information with the US Customs and Border Protection agency.  After the close, CLX announced it will cut about 4% of its non-production workforce (about 200 jobs) after having cut 100 jobs from the same non-production category in 2022.

In stock legal and regulatory news, the US Dept. of Justice announced it has reached a settlement with MU to resolve the company’s discrimination against a US citizen when it hired a temporary visa worker over the citizen for non-pertinent reasons.  The penalty was not specified but MU will pay the affected worker $85,000 and will be subject to DOJ monitoring for two years.  Elsewhere, in a reversal of an announcement earlier in the week, the US Treasury has made vehicles from RIVN and VLKAF (Volkswagen) eligible for the full $7,500 US Tax Credit for electric and hybrid vehicles.  Meanwhile, a US Bankruptcy Judge in New Jersey has halted most, but not all, liability lawsuits against JNJ (over cancer allegedly caused by tac products). The judge stopped 38,000 of the liability cases while JNJ seeks to reach a settlement with the claimants.  (JNJ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the unit it transferred all talc business to a second time after having had the first filing invalidated as an obvious attempt to avoid liability.)  The ruling in JNJ’s favor gives the company more leverage against the 80,000 claimants who must weigh their portion of JNJ’s proposed $8.9 billion over 30 years settlement against the possibility the unit’s bankruptcy is approved (in which case JNJ is basically free of all liability).  75% of the claimants would need to accept the offer for the JNJ proposed settlement to go into effect.  At the same time, in New York, PARA has counter-sued WBD in the case involving royalty fees for streaming rights of the “South Park” animated comedy.  After the close, RIDE received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and is now exploring a “reverse split” to get the stock price above the exchange minimum requirement.  (The company has until October 16 to regain compliance.)

After the close, PPG, CSX, VMI, and ASB all reported beats on both the earnings and revenue lines.  Meanwhile, SEIC, OZK, and WRB reported beats on the revenue line while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, KNX missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that PPG raised its forward guidance while KNX lowered its forward guidance.

Overnight, Asian markets leaned heavily to the red side with only New Zealand (+0.40%) and Singapore (+0.25%) managing to stay green.  Meanwhile, Shenzhen (-2.28%), Shanghai (-1.95%), and Hong Kong (-1.57%) led most of the region lower.  In Europe, the bourses are mixed but lean lower on modest moves at midday.  The DAX (-0.33%), CAC (-0.10%), and FTSE (+0.08%) are typical and lead the region in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 am, Futures are pointing toward a modestly red start to the day.  The DIA implies a -0.10% open, the SPY is implying a -0.22% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.42% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-year bonds are flat at 3.538% and Oil (WTI) is also flat at $77.40/barrel in early trading.  

The major economic news events scheduled for Friday are limited to Mfg. PMI, S&P Global PMI, and Services PMI (all at 9:45 am).  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include ALV, FCX, HCA, PG, RF, SDVKY, SAP, and SLB before the open.  There are no major earnings reports scheduled for after the close on the day. 

So far this morning, PG, HCA, VLVLY, SLB, SDVKY, and ALV have all reported beats to both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, SAP missed on revenue while it beat on earnings.  On the other side, RF beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  (FCX is scheduled to report at 8 am.)  It is worth noting that both PG and HCA have raised their forward guidance.  The only significant surprises were HCA with a 24% and SAP with a 12% upside earnings surprises.

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In miscellaneous news, the EIA reported a much higher-than-expected Natural Gas inventory build for last week.  Nat Gas storage increased 69 bcf, compared to 25 bcf the prior week and a 5-year average of 41 bcf stockpile build for this week of the year.  Total inventories are 34% higher than a year ago and 21% higher than the 5-year average.  Elsewhere, in late news, AMZN’s Whole Foods unit informed corporate employees that it will lay off several hundred people (only about 0.5% of its total workforce).  Finally, in a sign of a company that doesn’t know what it’s doing, TSLA reversed course overnight. One day after it lowered prices (for the sixth time in less than four months), reported disappointing earnings (which caused the stock to fall 10%) and signaled that price cuts would continue…TSLA announced overnight it will increase prices for its Model S and Model X cars. 

With that background, it looks like the large-cap indices are continuing their test of the T-line (8ema) level this morning. Meanwhile, QQQ is falling a bit further below its own T-line. With no economic news scheduled prior to the open, it looks like earnings will set the mood until at least 9:45 am. Clearly, there is a consolidation or a so-far weak pullback underway. If you look at the candle shapes in the DIA, it is obvious traders are pretty unsure of what will happen next. Regardless, the bullish trend remains in place but is also looking like it is losing steam. Over-extension is obviously not a problem in terms of the T-line or the T2122 indicator. SPY and QQQ seem to be testing a potential support level but DIA does not have that obvious level helping it below. Right now, the chart tells us to maintain a long bias but be wary of weakening bulls and keep an eye out for trend breaks. Also, remember this is Friday. So, pay yourself, lock-in some profits, and prepare your account for the weekend news cycle.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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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Earnings Mixed Jobless Claims On Tap

Markets gapped down to open in a divergent way on Wednesday (down 0.49% in SPY, down 0.19% in the DIA, and down 0.78% in the QQQ).  However, the SPY and QQQ immediately began to rally and recrossed that gap by early afternoon.  From there, both of them traded sideways into the close at very near the previous closing price.  Meanwhile, the DIA began trading sideways right after its gap lower and continued to undulate just below that opening price all day.  This action gave us gap-down, white-bodied candles in both the SPY and QQQ that retested and held their T-lines (8emas).  At the same time, the DIA printed an inside day, indecisive Doji candle that also held a retest of its T-line.  All of this happened on very low volume (far below the average volume in all 3 major indices).

On the day, six of the 10 sectors were in the red with Energy (-0.93%) leading the way lower while Financial Services (+0.57%) held up better than other sectors.  At the same time, the SPY lost 0.02%, DIA lost 0.27%, and QQQ lost 0.05%.  VXX fell another 0.38% to 39.09 and T2122 fell slightly to just outside the overbought territory to 79.79.  10-year bond yields rose a bit to close at 3.595% while Oil (WTI) dropped 2.35% on the day to $78.95 per barrel.  So, Wednesday was teed up for the bears at the open but they just could not deliver.  Bulls simply did not want to give up and bought the dip led by regional banks.  Yet, it remained an indecisive day as the bulls also failed to break out.  All we can say for sure is that we are sitting in a consolidation area with a bullish trend still intact as the 3ema > 8ema > 17ema > 50sma > 200sma.   

In economic news, the EIA Weekly Crude Oil Inventories fell more than expected with a 4.581-million-barrel drawdown (versus to a forecasted 1.088-million-barrel drawdown and farther below the prior week’s 0.597-million-barrel inventory build). The drawdown was largely due to a combination of increased exports and refineries reopening.  At the same time, EIA reported a gasoline inventory build of 1.300-million-barrels (compared to a forecasted 1.267-million-barrel drawdown and the prior week’s 0.331-million-barrel drawdown).  In addition, Weekly Distillate (diesel and heating fuel) Stocks fell 0.356-million-barrels (versus a forecasted 0.927-million-barrel drawdown and the prior week’s reading of -0.606-million-barrels).  Finally, the Fed Beige books showed that economic activity in the US has changed very little in recent weeks and the prospects for future growth were mostly unchanged.  However, there were signs that inflation was cooling as lenders’ new loan volumes and loan demand fell and several banks tightened lending standards.  The report also noted “modest-to-sharp declines in the prices of nonlabor inputs and significantly lower freight costs in recent weeks.”

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In stock news, TOYOF (Toyota Motors) announced it will invest $338 million in a plant to manufacture hybrid compact cars in Brazil. GM and VLKAF (Volkswagen) both have recently announced similar investments in the same technology in Brazil.  In other auto news, VLVLY rolled out a new electric “coupe-shaped SUV” that has no rear window.  Meanwhile, META carried out another round of job cuts (as part of its previously announced 10,000 job cuts during 2023).  No specific number of layoffs was mentioned but this round seems focused on the software engineers and related teams.  In the late afternoon, GE announced that workers at its largest union (about 3,000 employees) have ratified a new two-year contract.  Eight other smaller GE employee unions also ratified contract extensions.  Elsewhere, SNAP rolled out a new AI-powered chatbot to all users (it had previously only been available to their premium subscribers) on Wednesday.

In stock legal and regulatory news, the NHTSA reported that STLA is recalling almost 132,000 2021 Model Ram 1500 pickups due to powertrain software issues. Meanwhile, AMGN won an appeal, which upholds patents that bar generic versions of its psoriasis drug Otezla (which had been proposed by NVS).  AMGN sold $2.2 billion of the drug in 2022.  At the same time, the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said it will fast-track the review of ILMN’s challenge of the US FTC’s order to divest Grail LLC (which ILMN acquired and closed prior to regulatory approval).  It is worth noting that the EU also ordered ILMN to divest Grail back in December.  In Asia, Chinese government investigators concluded that the TSLA factory (where an employee died on February 4) had safety weaknesses and recommended an unspecified penalty.  Elsewhere, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that AMZN must face a class action lawsuit claiming that the company illegally monitored a private Facebook group used by employees to discuss working conditions.  In the semiconductor sector, GFS sued IBM, claiming that IBM shared the proprietary intellectual property of GFS with INTC and a new Japanese-state-backed chip-building consortium named Rapidus.  After the close, TSLA announced it has settled its lawsuit against a former employee they accused of stealing trade secrets.  No details of the settlement were announced.  Finally, STX agreed to pay $300 million for violating sanctions and shipping Chinese phone maker Huawei $1.1 billion worth of hard drives between mid-2020 and mid-2021.

After the close, LRCX, CCI, EFX, LVS, LBRT, FFIV, WTFC, and FNB all beat on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, TSLA, IBM, STLD, and KMI all missed on the revenue line while beating on earnings.  On the other side, DFS and ZION both beat on revenue while missing on the earnings line.  Unfortunately, AA missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that FFIV also lowered its forward guidance. It is also worth noting that AA had a massive 360% surprise miss on earnings while LVS had a strong 65% upside surprise on earnings. Regional banks ZION, WTFC, and FNB all reported strong upside surprises in revenue (27%, 30%, and 26% respectively).

Overnight, Asian markets leaned heavily to the red side on modest moves, with only Japan (+0.18%), Hong Kong (+0.14%), and India (+0.03%) clinging to the green.  Meanwhile, Thailand (-0.99%), South Korea (-0.46%), and Taiwan (-0.40%) paced the losses in the rest of the region.  In Europe, we see red across the board at midday.  The DAX (-0.77%), CAC (-0.43%), and FTSE (-0.12%) are leading the region lower in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 am, Futures are pointing toward another gap lower to start the day.  The DIA implies a -0.42% open, the SPY is implying a -0.66% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.91% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-year bond yields are starting the day down at 3.566% and Oil (WTI) is off more than 1.5% to $77.90/barrel in early trading.

The major economic news events scheduled for Thursday include the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims and Philly Fed Mfg. Index (both at 8:30 am) and March Existing Home Sales (10 am).  We also get two Fed speakers (Waller at noon and Bowman at 3 pm).  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include ALK, T, AN, BX, CMA, DHI, EWBC, FITB, GPC, HRI, HBAN, KEY, MAN, MMC, NOK, NUE, PM, POOL, RAD, SNA, SNV, TSM, TFC, UNP, WSO, and WBS before the open.  Then, after the close, CSX, KLNX, PPG, STX, VMI, and WRB report.  

In economic news later this week, on Friday, Mfg. PMI, S&P Global PMI, and Services PMI are reported.  On the earnings front later this week, on Friday, ALV, FCX, HCA, PG, RF, SDVKY, SAP, and SLB report.

So far this morning, DHI, GPC, KEY, SNA, CMA, HRI, SNV, MMC, HBAN, and HSQVY (Husqvarna) all reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, T, PM, BX, and TSM missed on revenue while beating on the earnings line. On the other side, AXP, RAD, NOK, TFC, and TCBI all beat on revenue while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, ALK and POOL missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that DHI and GPC raised their forward guidance while TSM and POOL lowered forward guidance.  Among the notable surprises were a 158% upside surprise on revenue from PM, a 44% upside surprise on earnings by DHI, a 61% downside surprise by RAD, and most of the regional banks posting 30% – 60% upside revenue surprises.

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In banking news, analytics company Attom Data reported Wednesday that the rate of US foreclosures rose 22% in Q1 (compared to Q1 2022), hitting a 3-year high.  It also reported that home repossessions also climbed 6% versus 2022.  However, we should note that much of the preceding three years was covered by a foreclosure moratorium and the number of foreclosures is still lower than they were prior to the pandemic.  They are also only a fraction of the record foreclosures in a quarter from back in 2009. 

In miscellaneous last-minute news, TSLA signaled more price cuts lay ahead even as it reported the margin damage from its recent spate of discounts.  Analysts argued on Bloomberg over whether this was aimed at killing off upstart rivals which have sprung up all over or is just trying to keep new plants from needing to idle.  Either way, the fact is that TSLA growth has dramatically slowed and discounts are one way to create more demand.  In other electric vehicle news, TM introduced new models and broadened its offerings to China (like most EV makers did at the Shanghai Auto Show with the glaring exception of “no show” TSLA at this year’s event).  Elsewhere, Swedish Home Goods company IKEA (not US listed) said it will invest $2.2 billion in the US over the next three years to update stores, build new order pickup centers, and expand its footprint in the US.  Finally, the most important chipmaker in the world, TSM, forecasts a weak market for chips for the rest of 2023.  However, the company is sticking with its $36 billion investment plan for 2023 to increase capacity.

With that background, it looks like the bears are again retesting the T-line (8ema) as support in all three major indices this morning. (The QQQ could even be gapping down through the T-line.) However, there is still some economic data before we get to the open. Regardless, the consolidation within a bullish trend remains in place and the moving averages remain stacked bullishly. Over-extension is obviously not a problem in terms of the T-line and the T2122 indicator is also not overbought at the moment (but close to that area at the top of the mid-range). We should also realize that the SPY, DIA, and QQQ all sit not far from potential support below or from potential resistance above. Once again, we have to put aside what we think/feel will should happen and just follow the chart. Right now, the chart tells us to maintain a long bias on a swing trading horizon while keeping an eye peeled, watching for trend breaks. So, be careful and continue go with the trend.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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.

Hit and Run Candlesticks / Road To Wealth Youtube videos

Disclosure: We do not act on all trades we mention, and not all mentions acted on the day of the mention. All trades we mention are for your consideration only.

Free YouTube Education  •  Subscription PlansPrivate 2-Hour Coaching

DISCLAIMER: Investing / Trading involves significant financial risk and is not suitable for everyone. No communication from Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates or representatives is not financial or trading advice. All information provided by Hit and Run Candlesticks Inc, its affiliates and representatives are intended for educational purposes only. You are advised to test any new trading approach before implementing it.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Terms of Service

Uncertainty and Chop

Uncertainty and Chop

The indexes were once again plagued with uncertainty and chop as we waited for the TSLA report that came in with a 20% decline in revenue and earnings from one year ago despite topping lowered estimates.  Today we have Jobless Claims, Philly Fed, and Existing Home Sales along with a busy day of earnings to keep traders guessing and price volatility high while the VIX indicates complacency is on the rise.  With tech giant reports and a pending FOMC rate decision around the corner plan for just about anything over the next couple of weeks.

Asian markets closed mixed overnight with modest gains and losses in reaction to earnings results.  European markets that tried to shrug off yesterday’s U.K. inflation surprise trade decidedly bearish this morning.  U.S. futures also suggest a bearish open but as the earnings and economic data roll out the actual open is anyone’s guess.

Economic Calendar

Earnings Calendar

Notable reports for Thursday include ALK, AN, AXP, BX, BJRI, T, CSX, DHI, FITB, GPC, HTLD, HBAN, KEY, KNX, MMC, NOK, NUE, PM, POOL, PPG, RAD< STX, TSM, TFC, UNP, WSO, & XRX.

News & Technicals’

IBM issued stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Wednesday even as the technology and consulting company reported disappointing revenue. IBM’s revenue increased 0.4% from a year earlier in the quarter, according to a statement. Net income rose 26% to $927 million, or $1.02 a share, for continuing operations. Profit rose faster than revenue as IBM’s total expenses and other income declined 4% to $6.45 billion, with reductions coming in research, development, and engineering.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk threatened Microsoft with a potential lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming the software giant used his company’s data to train its AI. “They trained illegally using Twitter data,” Musk tweeted. “Lawsuit time.” The threat came after Mashable and other publications reported that Microsoft would drop Twitter from its advertising platform.

Tesla’s Q1 2023 revenues and profits were close to expectations according to a survey of analysts from Refinitiv. However, the company’s net income and earnings dropped more than 20% from 2022. Tesla attributed the drop in earnings to “underutilization of new factories” which stressed margins, along with higher raw material, commodity, logistics, and warranty costs, and lower revenue from environmental credits.

Equity markets closed modestly lower on Wednesday as Treasury yields climbed higher on another day highlighted by uncertainty and chop. March CPI inflation rose by 10.1% YoY in the UK, above estimates of 9.8%. The S&P 500 overall is up about 8.0% in 2023, still driven largely by growth sectors like technology and communication services. Treasury yields have moved higher with the 2-year U.S. Treasury yield above its recent lows of 3.76%, up now to 4.25%. The VIX volatility index, continued to drift lower, now down over 12% for April.  With a big round of earnings data ahead of today plan for the challenging price action to continue.

Trade Wisely,

Doug

TSLA Cuts Prices Again As FOX Settles

On Tuesday, markets gave us a divergent day.  The DIA opened flat, sold off until 10:30 am, and then rallied back to flat by 12:20 pm when it then traded sideways in a tight range the rest of the day.  Meanwhile, the SPY gapped up 0.40%, sold off until 11:30 am, and rallied back to the prior close level before again trading sideways in a tight range the rest of the day.  For its part, the QQQ gapped up 0.65%, sold off hard to more than fill the gap by 10:30 am, and then traded sideways in a tight range along Monday’s close price all the way into a close.  This action gave us an indecisive Doji candle that retested the T-line (8ema) in the DIA.  Meanwhile, the SPY and QQQ both printed black-body candles with wicks.  QQQ tested and bounced up off its T-line while the SPY did not even get down to test its 8ema.

On the day, six of the 10 sectors were modestly in the green with Basic Materials (+0.38%) leading the way higher while Utilities (-0.70%) lagged behind other sectors.  At the same time, the SPY gained 0.07%, DIA lost 0.04%, and QQQ gained 0.01%.  VXX fell 0.66% to 39.24 and T2122 fell back but remains just inside the overbought territory to 81.82.  10-year bond yields fell a bit to close at 3.576% while Oil (WTI) was flat on the day at $80.85 per barrel.  So, Tuesday was a divergent, yet very indecisive day.  Despite black-bodied candles, the bullish trend remains with the 3ema > 8ema > 17ema > 50sma > 200sma…and the 3ema, 8ema, and 17ema are all rising across all three major indices.  However, this bullish trend continues to be on very low volume (far below average volume in the SPY, DIA, and QQQ).  

In economic news, March Building Permits (Prelim.) came in well below expectations at 1.413 million (compared to a forecast of 1.450 million and a February reading of 1.550 million).  On a month-on-month basis, this as a -8.8% rate versus an anticipated -6.0% rate forecasted and February’s massive +15.8% rate. Meanwhile, Mach Housing Starts came in slightly above expectation at 1.420 million (versus a forecast of 1.400 million and a February reading of 1.432 million).  Then, after the close, the API Weekly Crude Oil Stocks Report showed a very slightly greater than expected drawdown of 2.675- million-barrels (compared to a forecasted drawdown of 2.464-million-barrels and the prior week’s 0.377-million-barrel inventory build). 

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On the Fed talk front, in an interview Tuesday, St. Louis Fed Pres. Bullard (an extreme Hawk) said Wall Street should not be expecting a recession in the next six months.  He said, “The labor market just seems very, very strong…and a strong labor market that feeds into strong consumption…it doesn’t seem like the (right) moment to be predicting that you will have a recession in the second half of 2023.”  He also went on to say his St. Louis Fed stress index is at zero, and “If you were really going to get a major financial crisis out of this, that index would spike up to a four or five.”  From there, he went on to call for more Fed hikes, including a half percent hike at the early May meeting as well as walking back the idea of a pause in hikes.  Shortly after Bullard’s interview, Atlanta Fed President Bostic told CNBC he too foresees the economy avoiding a recession (as his baseline).  He said he’s in favor of one final increase and then holding rates at that level for “quite some time.”  (Bostic did not comment on the size of the last hike, but in the recent past he said he was leaning toward another quarter percent hike.) 

In stock news, Reuters reported Tuesday afternoon that GS is considering the sale of its GSKY fintech unit as it continues to step back from consumer-facing businesses. (GSKY software facilitates consumer home improvement loans.)   Elsewhere, RIDE said it has resumed production and deliveries of its electric pickup trucks “at a very low pace.”  (This comes after the company stopped production and deliveries in March as part of a voluntary recall due to potential propulsion system problems.)  At the same time, BA announced that despite the recently announced problems with supplier SPR (poor quality fuselages) and the stoppage of deliveries of 737 MAX planes, the firm is l comfortable with its buffer inventories and still plans to ramp up production of the jets.  (More details will be given during the Q1 earnings call 4/26.)  In other air-related news, LUV resumed its service after a software-related outage delayed more than 1800 of its flights on Tuesday.  Later in the afternoon, OPEN announced it is cutting roughly 22% (560 jobs) of its workforce, citing a decline in the housing market.  After the close, AAPL and GOOGL raised concerns about AMZN’s Kindle app saying that app could contain sexually explicit material accessible to children and threatening the removal of the popular app (from app stores) unless AMZN strengthens its content moderation (i.e. removes adult content).

In stock legal and regulatory news, on Tuesday, GOOGL convinced a US Court of Appeals to overturn a Texas jury verdict of $20 million (plus ongoing royalties) for having infringed on three anti-malware patents.  The ruling invalidated the plaintiffs’ patents.  Elsewhere, the US Supreme Court heard a case involving a US Postal worker and appears to be leaning toward making it harder for companies to not accommodate employees’ religious practices (such as not working on their Sabbath day).  This would overturn the precedent in place since 1977, which said companies can avoid accommodating employees if the requests caused more than a minimal inconvenience to the company.  Meanwhile, GM reached a settlement with the US Dept. of Justice related to the company’s discrimination against non-citizens.  The agreed fine was just $365,000.  At the same time, a US Senate Committee released a report claiming CS has hampered a multi-year investigation into Nazi clients and Nazi-linked accounts.  The report said, CS simply halted its internal review and fired the ombudsman overseeing the investigation of accounts that may contain assets of Holocaust victims.  Over at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, judges ruled in favor of UL related to a long-running false advertising claim.  The ruling said that “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray and similar products should be allowed to use artificially low serving sizes (less than one spray) related to calories and other nutritional facts on their advertising and labeling.  Finally, FOX was able to limit the damage of the Dominion case by admitting it lied about Dominion facilitating any fraud and the media company got off relatively cheaply (given their obvious guilt) by agreeing to pay $787.5 million in damages. At least one other defamation case is still pending against FOX and several groups (January 6th defendants as well as the Officers who were on the other side) are considering filing liability cases based on the now proven and admitted lies and misrepresentations of facts by the supposed news outlet. So, a hurdle was cleared, but FOX may not be out of the woods yet.

In banking news, Reuters reported that despite BAC, JPM, WFC, and C all beating their analyst estimates this quarter, including windfalls from increasing rates, industry leaders are lowering future expectations.  (Combined, the four banks wrote off $3.4 billion in bad consumer loans in Q1, a 73% increase from Q1 2022.) Unnamed industry executives are warning profits will tail off as a recession looms and customer defaults climb.  Industry analysts that Reuters quoted said “normal” card loan delinquencies run 3%-3.5%. However, they now expect branded card delinquencies may reach 5%-5.5% by early 2024.  At the same time, the same article cited an AXP filing on Tuesday which said February card loan write-offs grew slightly from 1.4% to only 1.7%.  The filling also said AXP “past due loan” volumes remained stable between February and March.  In related news, WAL reported a beat (see above) and said that its deposits had stabilized after being the focus of a potential second leg of the “regional banking crisis.”  WAL deposits fell 11.3% in Q1, but have grown more than $2 billion between March 31 and April 14.  The bank also reaffirmed its full-year deposit growth forecast of +13% to +17%.

After the close, OMC, ISRG, FHN, and WAL all reported beats to both the revenue and earning lines.  Meanwhile, NFLX and UAL both missed on revenue while beating on earnings.  On the other side, IBKR beat (by a significant margin) on revenue while missing on earnings.  It is also worth noting that NFLX lowered its forward guidance.

Overnight, Asian markets were again mixed but leaned toward the red side.  Singapore (+0.44%) led the four exchanges that managed to stay green.  Meanwhile, Hong Kong (-1.37%), Shenzhen (-0.84%), and Thailand (-0.82%) paced the losses among the eight exchanges that were in the red.  In Europe, we see a similar picture taking shape as of midday with only three bourses clinging to green while 12 show red.  However, it is worth noting that these are mostly on modest moves as the CAC (-0.03%), DAX (-0.20%), and FTSE (-0.25%) lead the region lower in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 am, Futures are pointing to a down start to the day.  The DIA implies a -0.28% open, the SPY is implying a -0.45% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.69% open at this hour. At the same time, 10-year bond yields are spiking, now up to 3.621% and Oil (WTI) is down nearly 2% to $79.26/barrel in early trading.

The major economic news events scheduled for Wednesday are limited to EIA Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 am) and Fed Beige Book (2 pm).  We also get another Fed speaker, Williams at 7 pm.  The major earnings reports scheduled for the day include ABT, ALLY, ASML, BKR, CFG, ELV, LAD, MS, NDAQ, EDU, SYF, TRV, and USB before the open. Then, after the close, AA, CCI, FDS, EFX, FFIV, IBM, KMI, LRCX, LVS, LBRT, STLD, TSLA, WTFC, and ZION report. 

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, and March Existing Home Sales are reported and we get two Fed speakers (Waller and Bowman).  Finally, on Friday, Mfg. PMI, S&P Global PMI, and Services PMI are reported.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, ALK, T, AN, BX, CMA, DHI, EWBC, FITB, GPC, HRI, HBAN, KEY, MAN, MMC, NOK, NUE, PM, POOL, RAD, SNA, SNV, TSM, TFC, UNP, WSO, and WBS report.  Finally, on Friday, ALV, FCX, HCA, PG, RF, SDVKY, SAP, and SLB report.

LTA Scanning Software

So far this morning, MS, ABT, TRV, USB, ASML, BKR, NDAQ, EDU, and ELV all reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, SYF, ALLY, and CFG all beat on the revenue line while missing on earnings.  Unfortunately, LAD missed on both the top and bottom lines.  It is worth noting that ASML and EDU both raised forward guidance.  However, CFG lowered its guidance.  It is also worth noting that some of the revenue beats included large upside surprises, especially among the financial names.  MS surprised on revenue by 60%, CFG by 34%, USB by 32%, NDAQ by 69%, and SYF by 19%.

In miscellaneous last-minute news, TSLA cut prices yet again overnight.  This time on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.  Elsewhere, the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate conforming loan increased sharply last week from 6.30% to 6.43%.  The origination points charged also increased from 0.55 to 0.63.  This caused a 10% fall in new home purchase loan applications and a 6% decrease in mortgage refinancing applications.

With that background, it looks like the bears are taking all three major indices back down to retest their T-lines (8ema) as support this morning. However, the bullish trend remains in place with the moving averages stacked. Over-extension is obviously not a problem in terms of the T-line for any of the major indices. Meanwhile, the T2122 indicator is just barely in the overbought area as well. We should also realize we are either sitting on or are near above potential support in the SPY, DIA, and QQQ. So, it looks like it could be a bearish start to a day in a bullish trend. Once again, if we can put aside fear and prediction, the chart tells us to maintain a long bias on a swing trading horizon while keeping a sharp eye out for trend breaks. So, be careful and go with the flow.

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 absolutely 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 money is 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

TC2000 Discount

🎯 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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