The large-caps opened more or less flat and the QQQ gapped higher on the AMZN and GOOGL earnings from Tuesday night.  After the open, the large-caps ground sideways most of the day and the QQQ sold off.  This left the QQQ printing a Dark Cloud Cover candle while the SPY and DIA both printed indecisive Spinning Top or Doji candles.  On the day, SPY was up 0.08%, DIA was up 0.12% and QQQ fell 0.40%.  VXX fell over 5% to 17.25 and T2122 stayed in the overbought territory at 88.66.  10-year bond yields were strongly higher, closing at 1.139% and Oil (WTI) rose almost 2% to $55.82/barrel.

On the stimulus front, President Biden stuck to his guns on the need for a $1,400 additional relief check.  However, he also said he was open to narrowing the number of people who qualify for a check.  For their part, Congressional Democrats continue to move forward with the House passing its version of the plan (budget) Wednesday and the Senate voting on it Thursday.  That is expected to pass on party lines and then reconciliation will proceed.  Related to market volatility, the President has instructed Treasury Sec. Yellen to call all the regulators together to make sure consumers (retail traders) are not being abused by the brokerages limiting trading and forcibly selling margin-bought shares of the Reddit-push short-squeeze tickers.

In business news, AAPL is close to finalizing a deal with Hyundai-Kia to manufacture the future (2024, though it may well be pushed back) “Apple Car.”  This has been a surprising potential partnership as Hyundai-Kia has always been at best a mid-market brand while AAPL has always positioned their brand as luxury and high-end.  Elsewhere, MRK CEO announced he will retire effective June 30. In the airline industry, AAL has now warned 13,000 employees and UAL warned 14,000 that they may be furloughed again if federal aid ends on March 31 as is now planned. The airline industry is seeking $15 billion in additional aid to ensure jobs through September.

Related to the virus itself, US infections continue to rage as the US.  The totals have risen to 27,150,457 confirmed cases and 461,930 deaths.  However, the number of new cases continues the recent trend of falling and is back down to the pre-election level as the average new cases are now 136,003 new cases per day.  Deaths are falling too, but still semain stubbornly high at 3,151 per day.  

Globally, the numbers rose to 104,993,331 confirmed cases and the confirmed deaths are now at 2,280,652 deaths.  In good news, the world’s average of new cases is down again to 496,969 per day (first time below 500k since October), but mortality remains high at 13,288 new deaths per day.  In the UK, a trial is underway to mix the first and second doses of vaccine (for example PFE first shot, MRNA second shot) in an effort to see if more flexibility is possible, which would aid supply chain problems.

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed, but mostly red.  South Korea (-1.35%), Shenzhen (-1.16%), and Japan (-1.06%) led the losses. However, India (+0.71%) and a few of the smaller markets were in the green.  In Europe, markets are mixed on modest moves at midday.  The FTSE (-0.39%) is down, while the DAX (+0.27%) and CAC (+0.20%) are modestly up at this point.  As of 7:30 am, US Futures are pointing toward a modestly up open.  The DIA (+0.04%) and SPY (+0.12%) are just on the green side of flat, while the QQQ (+0.43%) is implying a modest gain on the open.

The major economic news for Thursday includes Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Q4 Nonfarm Productivity, and Q4 Unit Labor Costs (all at 8:30 am), Dec. Factory Orders (10 am) and a Fed Speaker (Daly at 2 pm).  Major earnings reports on the day include ABB, AGCO, APD, ALXN, ABC, AME, ARW, BLL, BSAC, BAX, BCE, BDX, BMY, CI, CLX, CMS, CMI, GPI, HSY, ICE, IP LEA, MRK, NOK, ODFL, PH, BTU, PENN, PM, DGX, RL, SNA, TPR, TKR, WEC, XYL, and YUM before the open.  Then after the close, ATVI, CSL, CCS, COLM, DECK, DXC, F, FTNT, FTV, GILD, HIG, HUBG, LPLA, MTD, MCHP, MSI, NOV, OTEX, PTON, PFSI, POST, PRU, SKX, SNAP, TMUS, UNM, and YRCW all report.

Once again, earnings and business news are back to leading the news. That’s a good feeling. However, stimulus and vaccine news still can have some sway. With surprisingly good earnings reports so far this cycle, there is a lot of optimism for the future in the market. We’re not out of the woods, so beware of volatility. However, things look a lot more constructive than they have in a long time from an economic standpoint.

Follow the trend, respect support and resistance levels, and don’t chase the moves you missed.  Remember, nobody ever sustained a career by picking reversals…so don’t do it. Keep locking in your profits when you have them. It’s all about achieving trade goals and sticking to your discipline.  Our job is to produce consistent gains…not catch lightening in a bottle. So, stick with your plan, maintain discipline and work your process.

Ed

Swing Trade Ideas for your consideration and watchlist: OSTK, BABA, WK, FOXF, FFIC, XES, VIAC, RIG, COMM You can find Rick’s review of tickers on his YouTube Channel here. Trade your plan, take profits along the way, and smart. Also, remember to check for impending earnings reports. Finally, remember that any tickers we mention and talk about in the trading room are not recommendations to buy or sell.

🎯 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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