Markets were mostly undecided and treading water again Tuesday. To the extent there was any directionality, it was slightly bullish.  SPY opened 0.15% higher, DIA opened 0.12% higher, and QQQ gapped up 0.30%.  From there, all three major index ETFs sold off the first hour, rallied the second hour, and then ground sideways the rest of the day popping back up to the highs the last five minutes of the day.  All three major index ETFs remain above their T-line (8ema).  This action gave us a white-bodied Spinning Top in the DIA.  At the same time, SPY printed a white-bodied Hanging Man.  Finally, QQQ printed a white-bodied candle somewhere in between a Hanging Man and a Spinning Top, that sits right at a resistance level from the August highs. This happened on below-average volume in all three of the major index ETFs.

On the day, seven of the 10 sectors were in the green, with Basic Materials (+1.97%) well out in front leading the rest of the market higher. On the other side, Financial Services (-0.39%) and Utilities (-0.37%) lagged well behind the other sectors. At the same time, SPY gained 0.29%, DIA gained 0.24%, and QQQ gained 0.48%.  VXX was flat, ending up to 47.76 and T2122 climbed a bit into the middle of its over-bought range to close at 90.96.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields fell a bit to close at 3.732% while Oil (WTI) gained 1.66% to close at $71.54 per barrel on supply fears led by Israeli escalation of attacks on Lebanon.  So, markets were slightly bullish on what was largely a non-committal, undecided day with traders making few bets as markets drifted sideways much of the day.  SPY and DIA both closed at new all-time high closes.

The major economic news scheduled for Tuesday was limited to Conference Board Consumer Confidence, which came in lower at 98.7 (compared to a forecast of 103.9 and well down from August’s 105.6 reading).  Later, after the close, Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks had a much larger drawdown than expected at -4.339 million barrels (compared to a forecasted 1.100-million-barrel drawdown and far different than the previous week’s 1.960-million-barrel inventory build). 

In Fed news, Fed Governor Bowman (probably the most hawkish permanent member of the FOMC board) explained her lone dissent to the FOMC’s half percent rate cut last week.  She told a KY Banker’s Assn. that inflation gauges “remain uncomfortably above” the Fed’s 2% target. Therefore, she opposed a half-percent cut and instead supported a quarter percent reduction.  Bowman said, “The U.S. economy remains strong and core inflation remains uncomfortably above our 2% target.” She continued, “I preferred a smaller initial cut in the policy rate while the U.S. economy remains strong and inflation remains a concern.”  Bowman explained, “I continue to see greater risks to price stability, especially while the labor market continues to be near estimates of full employment (4.2%).”  She also said that she feared a rate cut would “unleash a considerable amount of pent-up demand and cash on the sidelines” (thus, possibly reigniting inflation).

After the close, KBH reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.

In stock news, on Tuesday, oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico scaled back or shut down operations ahead of a storm predicted to become a hurricane Wednesday.  SHEL, CVX, and BP were the headline names that evacuated rigs in the gulf.  At the same time, as previously revealed, SMAR announced it will be acquired by BX and Vista Equity Partners in a $8.4 billion all-cash deal ($56.50/share). Later, BIIB released results promising from a Phase 3 study of its lupus treatment.  At the same time, the Chairman of Nippon Steel publicly asked the United Steelworkers union to “come to the table” to find a resolution allowing Nippon Steel to acquire X.  Later, about 2,000 hotel workers walked off the job in a strike at the largest HLT hotel in the world in HI. (Overall, 4,000 hotel workers struck HLT in Honolulu, Sandiego, and San Francisco.)  At the same time, KO announced that it is pulling its “Spiced Coke” flavor and said it was discontinuing the flavor.  This comes less than six months after KO announced the new “permanent flavor” was intended to target younger drinkers.

Elsewhere, Elliott Management announced it would request a special meeting of the board of LUV as soon as next week as the activist investor seeks to push out the CEO.  Later, AMCI Testing announced that TSLA Full Self-Driving software is still “suspect” and requires improvement to ensure robotaxi safety.  (The testing company said that a 1,000-mile evaluation found that the software required human intervention 75 times and the time between required human interventions decreased as the test went on.)  At the same time, the Teamsters Unions announced it had reached a four-year deal with BWA, covering 700 workers.  (This ends a two-week strike at BWA.)  Later, MSFT announced it will spend $1.3 billion in Mexico over the next three years to build out cloud computing infrastructure.  After the close, Reuters reported that negotiations remain at a standstill between MPC and the Teamsters Union as the strike at MPC refineries enters its third week.  At the same time, regulatory filings showed that BRKB sold another $863 million of BAC stock between September 20 and September 24.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Tuesday the Dept. of Justice sued V for allegedly conducting an illegal monopoly over debit cards.  The suit accuses V of using “exclusionary agreements” with partners to prevent and smother potential rivals in that space. Later, BVNRY received a $63 million order from the US government to produce bulk and freeze-dried smallpox and Mpox vaccines.  At the same time, the UK anti-trust watchdog agency said that “concerns remain” over GOOGL ad-privacy plans.  (This is GOOGL’s plans to retain third-party cookies in the Chrome browser for better targeting ads.)  Later, the FTC announced that INVH agreed to pay a $48 million fine for deceiving renters about their lease costs. 

Meanwhile, the US State Dept. approved the sale of $740 million of Stinger missiles (made by RTX) to Egypt.  At the same time, a Brazilian state announced they had signed a $180 million deal with AMZN and five other companies, selling the companies carbon credits and the money to purportedly be used for conservation of the Amazon region.  After the close, META announced it will not immediately join the EU’s AI Pact ahead of bloc’s new AI law comes into effect.  At the same time, a federal judge ruled a NY City law requiring DASH, GRUB, and UBER to share the end customer data with restaurants.  The judge ruled the law violated the First Amendment by regulating commercial speech.

In geopolitical news, on Tuesday, Israel continued its new campaign of attacks on Lebanon (Hezbollah).  After 1,300+ Israeli attacks Monday killed more than 500 and wounded thousands, on Tuesday they launched several dozen additional attacks, killing at least dozens more.  In response, Hezbollah fired 300 rockets into Israel.  As the rest of the world called for de-escalation and the stop of illegal bombings, Israeli PM Netanyahu said the attacks will not end.  He urged the Lebanese people to change governments and throw out Hezbollah “before that group leads them into the abyss” (i.e. gets them bombed to rubble by Israel).  Meanwhile, the IDF spokesman called on the people of Southern Lebanon to move away from buildings and gatherings “for their own safety.”  Oil prices initially spiked on Monday, but retreated as the attacks cooled Monday night.  However, another spike took place Tuesday as the attacks resumed.

In overnight news, Asia was buoyed Wednesday by more stimulus from Beijing.  The People’s Bank of China (central bank) lowered the rate charged on one-year loans by more than it has ever been lowered before.  This comes on top of the broad package of stimulus announced Tuesday.  As a result, the Chinese yuan rose to more the seven per US dollar for the first time in 16 months. Elsewhere, SAP stock took a hit on news that the US is investigating the German software giant for over-charging US agencies over the course of a decade.

Overnight, Asian markets were evenly mixed with six exchanges in the red and six in the green.  Taiwan (+1.47%), Shenzhen (+1.21%), and Shanghai (+1.16%) led the gainers while South Korea (-1.34%) and Singapore (-1.09%) were by far the biggest losers.  In Europe, markets are mostly green at midday with four of 14 bourses in the red.  The CAC (-0.33%), DAX (-0.43%), and FTSE (+0.27%) lead the region on volume as usual in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:15 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a mixed, flat start to the day.  The DIA implies a +0.07% open, the SPY is implying a -0.01% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.15% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are up to 3.76% and Oil (WTI) is down 0.63% to $71.10 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday includes August Building Permits (8:30 a.m.), August New Home Sales (10 a.m.), and Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m.).  The major earnings reports scheduled for before the open are limited to CTAS.  Then, after the close, CNXC, FUL, JEF, MU, and WS report.

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, we get Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, August Core Durable Goods Orders, August Durable Goods Orders, Q2 Core PCE Prices, Q2 GDP, Q2 GDP Price Index, August Pending Home Sales, and the Fed Balance Sheet.  We also hear from Fed Chair Powell, Fed member Williams, Fed Vice Chair Barr, Treasury Sec. Yellen, Fed Vice Chair Barr, and Fed member Kashkari. Finally, on Friday, August Core PCE Price Index, August PCE Price Index, August Personal Spending, August Goods Trade Balance, August Retail Inventories, Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations are reported.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, we hear from CAN, KMX, JBL, SNX, BB, COST, and SCHL.  Finally, on Friday, there are no earnings reports scheduled.

In last minute news mortgage news, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. reports a surge in demand for loans last week.  This was led by a 20% increase in refinance loan applications on the week (week-on-week).  (This was a massive 175% increase over the same week one year earlier.)  Meanwhile, the loan applications for the purchase of a new home rose 1% week-on-week, but were also 2% higher than the same week of 2023.  The national average 30-year, fixed-rate, conforming-loan interest rate was 6.13% down from 6.15% the week prior., APO (Apollo Global Mgmt.) offered to make a $5 billion “equity-like” investment into INTC. This is both a vote of confidence in INTC, but depending on the board mindset may also offer an alternative to the friendly take-over offer from QCOM. Either way, INTC shares spiked in premarket on the news.

With that background, it looks like the SPY is flat and undecided in the premarket. At the same time, QQQ gapped down a bit but is also undecided at that point. Meanwhile, DIA gapped down the most in the early session, but also has a strong white-bodied candle so far that had climbed back up to positive territory early. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is still bullish. The mid-term trend is now also bullish with QQQ the laggard but now well over its downtrend line going back to the July all-time high. In the longer-term we still have a strong Bull trend all three major index ETFs and remain near all-time highs. With regard to extension, none of the three major index ETFs are too far extended above their T-lines. However, the T2122 indicator has climbed back into the top half of its overbought range. So, markets may have room to run either direction, but the Bears still have more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, seven of the 10 are in the red with AAPL (-0.99%) well out in front leading the losses. However, that biggest dog, NVDA (+0.26%) is among the leader among the gainers and has traded 3x the dollar-volume of any other ticker so far today (normal for NVDA).

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Friday was a day where most of the move came at the open.  SPY gapped down by 0.53%, DIA gapped down 0.46%, and QQQ opened 0.17%. From there, all three of the major index ETFs meandered sideways with QQQ having the most volatility, SPY the least, and DIA had a slight bullish trend. All three remain well above their T-line (8ema) and the only other retest was SPY retesting support from above and passing.  This all gave us indecisive candles across all three with long-legged Doji candles in SPY and QQQ while DIA printed a white-bodied Spinning Top candle.  This happened on below-average volume in the SPY, DIA, and QQQ.

On the day, nine of the 10 sectors were in the red, with Industrials (-0.83%) and Healthcare (-0.78%) in front of the others leading the rest of the market lower. On the other side, Utilities (+1.68%) were the only sectors in green and held up much, much better than the other sectors.  Meanwhile, SPY lost 0.52%, DIA lost 0.20%, and QQQ lost 0.19%.  VXX fell another 0.61% to close at 47.43 and T2122 fell just outside of its over-bought range to the top of its mid-range at 78.17. At the same time, 10-Year bond yields rose to close at 3.745% while Oil (WTI) fell just 0.25% to close at $71.77 per barrel.  So, Friday was basically modest gap lower and then a dead market as markets seemed to want to get past triple-witching and the weekend. 

There was no major economic news or earnings reports scheduled for Friday.

In Fed news, Fed Governor Waller discussed the FOMC’s half percent rate cut with CNBC.  Waller said that rate cut was the right decision because the economy is strong and inflation is coming down…and the Fed wants to keep it that way.  Waller said that recent data pushed him in the direction of a larger rate cut, while noting “estimates” suggest that core PCE is running below target and that was what pushed him over the edge toward supporting the larger rate cut.  As always, Waller said that future rate decisions will be data dependent and that the FOMC could pause if inflation progress stalls, but he’s also open to another larger cut if the jobs market makes it appropriate.  Finally, Waller said he does not believe the Fed is “behind the curve” (or ahead) and he thinks that inflation is “on the right path.”  Later, Fed Governor Bowman released a statement that her dissenting vote to the FOMC’s half percent rate cut, instead voting for a quarter-point cut, to avoid “a premature declaration of victory over inflation.” She echoed Chair Powell (and Governor Waller) in saying that the economy and job market remain strong, but that “core personal expenditure prices are still rising faster than 2.5% from 12 months earlier.”  Bowman continued, “We have not yet achieved our inflation goal. (So,) I believe that moving at a measured pace toward a more neutral policy stance will ensure further progress in bringing inflation down to our 2% target. This approach would also avoid unnecessarily stoking demand.”  (Her statement did not specifically say so, but apparently, she believes a measured pace is best defined as quarter point rate moves.)

In stock news, on Friday, CEG announced plans to restart the 3-Mile Island nuclear power plant, saying that it had contracted to sell the power to MSFT for use in AI data centers. CEG said it plans to invest $1.6 billion to upgrade and restart the plant. CEG stock gapped up 13% and closed up 22.31% on the news. (However, as of day end, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it had not received an application from CEG, which would need to be approved before restarting the plant.)  At the same time, NVO announced disappointing results from a phase 2a trial of its experimental oral anti-obesity drug monlunabant. The trial found patients lost just 6.5% of their body weight over 16 weeks using the once-daily pill.  (NVO fell nearly 5% on the news.)  Later, CAH announced it has agreed to buy private cancer center operator Integrated Oncology Network for $1.12 billion in cash. The move gives CAH access to 100 cancer treatment centers in 10 states for distribution of its drugs. 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported APOS has been given $5 billion by BNPQY to expand its private credit investments.  At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported that QCOM made a buyout offer for INTC earlier in the week.  This news broke Friday afternoon, and INTC popped 7% on the news, but closed up 3.31%.  (No details on the offer or response were given. However, the Journal said it had three sources, including people on both sides of the offer.) It’s worth noting that even if INTC accepted the offer, there would be huge hurdles in getting regulatory approval…and that approval would need to come from several governments. After the close, BA’s new CEO Ortberg made his first major move by firing the head of the company’s Space and Defense unit, effective immediately. The company name the unit’s COO to assume the duties until a replacement can be found.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Friday, a German court ruled against AMZN and in favor of NOK in the phone company’s patent infringement suit. (The case is over video technologies in streaming devices that AMZN is selling without a NOK license.)  At the same time, AAL asked the US Dept. of Transportation to let it to delay resuming two daily flights to China from the US.  AAL cited lags in travel demand for China that have not recovered from pre-pandemic levels (COVID being the reason the flights were discontinued originally).  (DAL and UAL had both sought the same permission earlier.)  Later, the US Dept. of Energy announced plans to award $3 billion across 25 projects in 14 states in support of battery manufacturing.  ALB, HON, and LUNMF are among the companies receiving these grants.  At the same time, the NHTSA said that F will recall 144k vehicles over rearview camera freezing problems.  Later, the FDA approved AZN’s self-administered nasal spray flu vaccine.  (This is the first of its kind drug approved.) 

Elsewhere, the FDA also approved ZVRA’s drug for a rare and fatal genetic disorder.  (The FDA had previously declined to approve the ZVRA drug and ordered an extended review.)  Later, the SEC ruled that FOX can avoid a vote by shareholders asking it to consider labeling news and opinion shows to distinguish them for viewers as activist investors.  The SEC agreed with FOX that the matter is not a shareholder matter, but rather an “ordinary business decision.”  At the same time, and Italian judge ordered a $84 million seizure of assets and money from the Chairman of STLA related to alleged tax fraud.  Later, the FTC sued UNH, CI, and CVS, alleging that their pharmacy benefits manager units steered patients away from lower-cost insulin to higher-cost products by excluding the lower-cost products from their lists of covered drugs distributed to patients.  At the same time, the NHTSA announced that GM is recalling 450k pickups and SUVs in the US over an inoperative warning light for low brake fluid.

Meanwhile, the conservative US 5^th District Court of Appeals revived a suit brought by drug companies and their trade groups challenging the right of the government to negotiate drug prices.  The court did not address the merits of the case but instead found the TX judge was wrong to dismiss the case in February, saying he did not have jurisdiction to hear the case, even though it was brought in his court. At the same time, SATS received approval from the FCC to buildout the company’s 5G network for Boost Mobile.  (SATS says it plans to cover 80% of the US by the end of 2024.)  Later, the JNJ subsidiary used for the “Texas Two-Step” attempt to avoid the liability of talc lawsuits filed for bankruptcy again (a third time) to advance JNJ’s $10 billion settlement plan that would end tens of thousands of lawsuits.  (JNJ says that 83% of lawsuit claimants have accepted the settlement offer.  JNJ is hoping that the bankruptcy judge will order the settlement to apply to all plaintiffs, instead of just the 83%.)  After the close, the SEC approved options trading on BLK’s Bitcoin spot-price ETF.

In miscellaneous news, on Friday, the Biden Administration announced it is preparing a new $375 million military aid package for Ukraine.  This package will include HIMARS missiles (made by LMT), as well as 155mm and 105mm artillery shells (made by BAESF).  Elsewhere, in government shutdown news, on Sunday afternoon Speaker of the House Johnson decided to remove the MAGA voter suppression amendment from the government funding continuing resolution.  The revised bill only funds government operations until December 20 (9 weeks) as the GOP hopes to get past this, its SEVENTH shutdown fiasco since taking power in January 2023 (with an eighth cliff-edge then scheduled the week before Christmas).  The Speaker indicated in a letter to his caucus that he would bring a vote on the measure this week, with details still unknown.

In geopolitical news, Israel ramped up regional tensions with more bombing attacks Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Initially, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group initially responded with rhetoric, but as Israeli attacks continued the group conducted missile attacks further into Israel than has been seen for a long time, with rockets landing near Haifa (on the Mediterranean coast). Meanwhile in Russia, Ukrainian drone attacks destroyed three armament depots in the Moscow region on Saturday and Sunday.  These attacks blew up 60,000 tons of armaments ranging from artillery shells, to rockets, to bombs, to cruise missiles. This included shipments from North Korea. (The value of the destroyed munitions is very likely in the range of many billions of dollars.)

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed with five red exchanges and seven green ones.  Japan (+1.53%) led the gains while Australia (-0.69%) paced the losses.  In Europe, we see a similar picture taking shape as there are six red bourses and eight green ones at midday.  The CAC (-0.321%), DAX (+0.48%), and FTSE (-0.20%) lead the region on volume as always.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a start modestly on the green side of flat.  The DIA implies a +0.06% open, the SPY is implying a +0.14% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.22% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are up t o3.751% and Oil (WTI) is up half a percent to $71.32 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Monday is limited to S&P Global Mfg. PMI, S&P Global Services PMI, and S&P Global Composite PMI (all at 9:45 a.m.). However, we also hear from Fed members Bostic (8 a.m.) and Kashkari (1 p.m.).  There are no major earnings reports scheduled for before the open.  However, after the close, AIR reports.

In economic news later this week, on Tuesday, we get Conference Board Consumer Confidence and Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks.  Then Wednesday, August Building Permits, August New Home Sales, and Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories are reported.  On Thursday, we get Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, August Core Durable Goods Orders, August Durable Goods Orders, Q2 Core PCE Prices, Q2 GDP, Q2 GDP Price Index, August Pending Home Sales, and the Fed Balance Sheet.  We also hear from Fed Chair Powell, Fed member Williams, Fed Vice Chair Barr, Treasury Sec. Yellen, Fed Vice Chair Barr, and Fed member Kashkari. Finally, on Friday, August Core PCE Price Index, August PCE Price Index, August Personal Spending, August Goods Trade Balance, August Retail Inventories, Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations are reported.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Tuesday, we hear from AZO, THO, KGH, and WOR.  Then Wednesday, CTAS, CNXC, FUL, JEF, MU, and WS report. On Thursday, we hear from CAN, KMX, JBL, SNX, BB, COST, and SCHL.  Finally, on Friday, there are no earnings reports scheduled.

In last minute news, APO (Apollo Global Mgmt.) offered to make a $5 billion “equity-like” investment into INTC. This is both a vote of confidence in INTC, but depending on the board mindset may also offer an alternative to the friendly take-over offer from QCOM. Either way, INTC shares spiked in premarket on the news.

With that background, it looks like the market is indecisive and just on the plus side of break-even in the early session. All three major index ETFs have printed more wick than body, with QQQ having the only appreciable body among those candles. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is still bullish. The mid-term trend is now also bullish with QQQ the laggard but now well over its downtrend line going back to the July all-time high. In the longer-term we still have a strong Bull trend all three major index ETFs and remain near all-time highs. With regard to extension, none of the three major index ETFs are too far extended above their T-lines. In addition, the T2122 indicator has dropped out of its overbought range, but sits in the top of its mid-range. So, markets may have room to run either direction, but the Bears still have more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, six of the 10 are in the green with INTC (+4.01%) way, way out in front leading gains. However, that biggest dog, NVDA (-0.09%) is among the laggards.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Markets gapped strongly higher at the open Thursday.  SPY gapped up 1.73%, DIA gapped up 1.39%, and QQQ gapped up a whopping 2.39%.  From that point, all three major index ETFs saw volatility in the first hour, followed by a rally that lasted until about 2 p.m., when a modest selloff took over and lasted the rest of the day.  This action gave us gap-up, indecisive, Doji-type candles.  SPY was a true Doji that printed new all-time high and new all-time high close.  DIA gave us a black Spinning Top that also printed new all-time high and all-time high closes.  Meanwhile, QQQ gave a white Spinning Top that broke its downtrend line (going back to the all-time high in July) and retested, but did not close above, a resistance line running back through the August 22 high.  This all happened on average volume across all three major index ETFs.

On the day, eight of the 10 sectors were in the green, with Technology (+2.73%) out in front of the others leading the rest of the market higher. On the other side, Utilities (-0.21%) and Consumer Defensive (-0.13%) were the only sectors in red.  Meanwhile, SPY gained 1.71%, DIA gained 1.25%, and QQQ gained 2.53%.  VXX fell 4.33% to close at 47.72 and T2122 climbed back into the top half of its over-bought range at 94.74.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields rose to close at 3.719% while Oil (WTI) popped 1.61% to close at $72.05 per barrel on supply fears caused by Israeli bombing in Lebanon and the Hezbollah Leader saying Israel “crossed red lines” and there would be a reckoning.  So, Thursday was basically a re-think of the Fed policy change resulting in a gap higher.  After that gap, it was just volatility the rest of the day. 

The major economic news scheduled for Thursday included the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, which came in lower than expected at 219k (compared to the 230k forecast and prior week’s 231k).  On the ongoing front, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims were also down at 1,829k (versus a forecast of 1,850k and a prior week value of 1,843k). At the same time, the Q2 Current Account was lower at -$266.8 billion (compared to a forecast of -$259.0 billion and a Q1 reading of -$241.0 billion).  Meanwhile, the Philly Fed Mfg. Index was much better at 1.7 (versus a forecast of -0.8 and much better than the August -7.0 value).  At the same time, the Philly Fed Mfg. Employment Index was much higher at 10.7 (compared to August’s -5.7 reading).  Later, August Existing Home Sales were lower than predicted at 3.86 million (versus a forecast of 3.92 million and July’s 3.96 million number).  At the same time, the August US Leading Economic Index was better than anticipated at -0.2% (compared to a forecast of -0.3% and much better than July’s -0.6% value).  Finally, after the close, the Fed Balance Sheet showed a $6 billion decrease at $7.109 trillion (versus the prior week’s $7.115 trillion balance).

After the close, LEN reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  However, FDX and MLKN missed on both the top and bottom lines.  (FDX missed on earnings by more than 25%.)

In stock news, on Thursday, INTC said it has no plans to divest its majority stake in MBLY.  At the same time, BABA accelerated its efforts to compete in the AI market by releasing 100 open-source large language models and text-to-video AI technology.  (BABA’s competitors like BIDU are primarily pursuing a closed-source approach.) Later, the Wall Street Journal reported that DIS is dumping the CRM-owned worker collaboration tool Slack after the recent hack that exposed more than a terabyte of DIS data.  At the same time, GM’s Cruise unit announced it will begin testing up to five autonomous vehicles in the San Francisco Bay area later this fall.  Later, BRKB’s railroad (BNSF) announce it had reached a tentative deal with the SMART union on a 5-year labor contract.  At the same time, KO announced plans to invest $1 billion in Nigeria operations over the next five years.  Later, TLSA rival NIO announced price cuts on its first car, now starting at $21,210 in China.

Elsewhere, the CWA union announced NYT workers had approved a strike, with 95% voting in favor of a strike.  At the same time, NKE announced its CEO (Donahoe) will step down on October 14 and will be replaced by former NKE senior executive Elliott Hill, who had left after 32 years at NKE.  (CNBC reported Donahoe was being forced out as the board seeks to restructure the company.)  Later, MA announced that they forecast holiday spending will grow by 3% again this year during a shorter-than-usual holiday window.  Meanwhile, GOOGL announced that ads will now be able to run, even when a YouTube video has been paused.  This annoyance may well just be intended to increase sales of YouTube Premium subscription accounts ($13.99/month) which avoids ads altogether. Later, after the close, the CEO of MASI was ousted after activist investor Politan won two board seats during a shareholder proxy vote.  Finally, Bloomberg reported the EU has warned AAPL that it must open up its extremely-guarded iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival technologies OR it will face significant (unspecified) fines.  The report says AAPL was given six months to do this before penalties will begin.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Thursday, the SEC announced that MQBKY (investment advisor) had agreed to pay $79.8 million to settle charges of overvaluing collateralized mortgage obligations held in its advisory accounts between 2017 and 2021.  At the same time, the Bureau of Land Mgmt. published a key environmental report, which was the last step to approval of IONR’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in NV.  (The mine will produce enough lithium for 370k electric vehicles per year.  F and TM have both agreed to buy lithium from that mine.)  Later, Reuters reported that a criminal investigation is underway at the ET natural gas liquids plant that exploded and has been burning in La Porte TX since Monday. (A body was found in the car that hit the pipeline.)  At the same time, the FDA approved ELAN’s skin disease treatment for dogs.  After the close, the Anti-Defamation League joined a lawsuit alleging INTC has a hostile workplace and has wrongfully discriminated and terminated a former Israeli employee, after that employee accused two executives of openly posting anti-Semitic propaganda tied to the Israeli-Hamas war.

In miscellaneous news, on Thursday, Reuters reported that pro-Ukraine congressional leaders and the Biden administration are very near an agreement to extend expiration of $6 billion in military aid for Ukraine.  The report indicated that the deal would extend the period during which the President us able to drawdown US military supplies and use the $6 billion to replenish.  If not extended, the $6 billion expires at the end of the month.  Elsewhere, not waiting on the dysfunctional GOP House, the Senate Majority Leader moved a placeholder stop-gap bill through procedural hurdles.  This will allow the Senate to vote on a government funding continuing resolution almost immediately, if the House can get one passed and send it to the Senate.  Meanwhile, Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the national average 30-year, fixed-rate, conforming mortgage rate dropped to 6.09% (down from 6.20% a week prior). 

In Fed rate forecasting, the day following the Fed’s 50-basis-point cut, the Fed Funds Futures market closed while expecting a quarter-point cut in early November and then a half point cut in mid-December.  Specifically, 60.9% of trades expect a quarter-point cut in September, with the other 39.1% predicting a half percent cut at that meeting.  For December, 29.0% forecast a cut to 4.25%-4.50% (a total of a half of a percent lower than the current rate) while 50.5% expect 4.00%-4.25% (three-quarters of a percent lower than current), and 20.5% of trades predict a cut to 3.75%-4.00% (a full percent lower than current, or in other words, expect two cuts of half a percent during the last two meetings of the year).

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed, but leaned toward the green side with just four of the 12 exchanges in the red in that region.  (Note that the Bank of Japan held rates steady.) However, in Europe, we see red across the board at midday after the Bank of England and Norway’s central bank both held rates steady in contrast to the Fed’s big cut Wednesday.  The CAC (-0.72%), DAX (-0.86%), and FTSE (-0.49%) lead the region lower in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:15 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a mixed but down start to Friday.  The DIA implies a +0.03% open, the SPY is implying a -0.25% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.43% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are at 3.732% and Oil (WTI) is off 0.43% to $71.64 per barrel in early trading.

The only major economic news scheduled for Friday is Fed member Harker speaking at 2 p.m.  There are also no major earnings reports scheduled for either before the open or after the close.

In overnight news, MBGAF (Mercedes Benz) gave a profit warning and lowered its guidance, citing slow sales in China.  The CEO of Mercedes promised a sales push in China, presumably meaning a lowering of prices as well as introducing new “products” to the Chinese market.  Also, after their bad report, FDX is down more than 12% in premarket trading.  Early Friday, CEG announced it will restart the Three-mile Island nuclear power plant and have contracted to sell the power produced to MSFT.

With that background, it looks like the Bears have control early Friday. All three major index ETFs gapped modestly lower and have printed black-bodied candles since then in the premarket. However, all three remain well above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is still bullish. The mid-term trend is now also bullish with QQQ the laggard but now well over its downtrend line going back to the July all-time high. In the longer-term we still have a strong Bull trend all three major index ETFs. With regard to extension, none of the three major index ETFs are too far extended above their T-lines given the premarket action, but they were getting close as of Thursday’s close. However, the T2122 indicator is back in the top half of its overbought range. So, markets may have room to run either direction, but the Bears definitely have more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, eight of the 10 are in the red with the two remaining just barely holding onto green territory. NVDA (-0.87%) and INTC (-0.85%) lead the losses while NVDA and TSLA (-0.72%) lead the dollar-volume traded as usual. GOOGL (+0.16%) is holding up better than the other big dogs. Also, bear in mind that today is Friday, pay day, and also triple witching day. So, prepare your account for potential volatility in the afternoon as well as 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 no reason to keep raising your bet (risk) size just because you’ve had a win. Finally, remember that trading is not a hobby, it’s a job. The gains are real and so is the risk. So, treat it that way. Do the work and follow the process. Stick to your trading rules, trade with the trend, and take those profits when you have them. Do the work!

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Wednesday was about what we (or at least I) had expected.  SPY opened up 0.09%, DIA opened up 0.05%, and QQQ gapped up 0.24%.  From there, all three major index ETFs immediately crossed back below the prior close before grinding sideways in a tight range for two hours.  Then we saw a modest selloff followed by a modest rally back to the same level waiting on the Fed. At 2 p.m. we had a 5-minute rip upward and volatility followed by a drift higher into Chair Powell’s presser at 2:30 p.m.  After Powell started, we sold off the rest of the day. This action gave us black-bodied, Inverted Hammer candles in all three major index ETFs.  SPY and DIA printed new all-time highs, while QQQ again retested and closed below its downtrend line running back to Mid-July.  None of the three retested or crossed below their T-line (8ema).  This all happened on slightly below-average volume in SPY, DIA, and QQQ.

On the day, all 10 sectors were in the red, with Utilities (-0.60%) out in front of the others leading the market lower. On the other side, Healthcare (-0.03%), Financial Services (-0.05%), Communications Services (-0.09%) and Consumer Cyclical (-0.09%) were all clustered as laggards. Meanwhile, SPY fell 0.30%, DIA lost 0.26%, and QQQ lost 0.43%.  VXX fell 0.83% to close at 49.88 and T2122 fell slightly again but remains in the middle of its over-bought range at 87.50. At the same time, 10-Year bond yields actually gained to close at 3.704% while Oil (WTI) fell 1.55% to close at $70.09 per barrel.  So, Wednesday was all about the Fed.  the Bulls get their new all-time highs in the large-cap indexes.  However, then traders took profits, afraid to hold too much long risk going into tomorrow’s Fed decision, statement, and press conference.

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday include August Building Permits, which were stronger than expected at 1.475 million (compared to the 1.410 million forecast and a 1.406 million July reading).  At the same time, August Housing Starts were strongly higher at 1.356 million (versus a 1.310 million forecast and 1.237 million July value).  This was a 9.6% month-on-month increase.  Later, Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories showed a bigger than anticipated inventory drawdown at -1.630 million barrels (compared to a -0.200 million barrels forecast and the prior week’s +0.833-million-barrel inventory build). Then, at the close, July TIC Net Long-Term Transactions indicated a net inflow of $135.4 billion. 

However, the big news of the day came from the FOMC.   At 2 p.m. Fed announced a half-percent rate cut (down to the 4.75%-5.00% range) for Fed Funds.  At the same time the Current Q3 Interest Rate Projection was down to 4.4% (down from 5.1%).  For the 1^st-Year Out Q3 Interest Rate Projection (2025) the average estimate is now 3.4% (down from the prior 4.1%).  Meanwhile, the 2^nd-Year (2026) Q3 Interest Rate Projection is now 2.9% (down from 3.1%). At the same time, the 3^rd-Year (2027) Q3 Interest Rate Projection remained steady at 2.9% (from the previous 2.9% forecast). The Longer-Term Q3 Interest Rate Projection was also 2.9% (which was up a tick from the previous average forecast of 2.8%). 

In his press conference, Fed Chair Powell said he does not see the risk of economic downturn as heightened.  He said, “I don’t see anything in the economy right now that suggests that the likelihood of a recession, sorry, of a downturn, is elevated.”  He continued, “You see growth at a solid rate. You see inflation coming down. You see a labor market that’s still at very solid levels. So, I don’t really see that now.”  Powell said that there was “broad support” for Wednesday’s half-point cut. However, Fed Governor Bowman (a hawk) dissented, instead calling for a quarter-point cut.  Looking forward, at the moment, the Dot Plots indicate two (of 19) board members feel there should be no more cuts in 2024.  At the same time, seven of the 19 think one additional quarter point cut will be appropriate.  However, the median view is that two more quarter-point cuts will be needed in 2024.  On the other end, one of the 19 feels more than half a percent of additional cut in 2024 will be appropriate.

After the close, SCS missed on revenue while beating on earnings.

In stock news, on Wednesday, GM reached a tentative deal with Unifor (the Canadian version of the UAW union) over its Ontario, Canada plant.  At the same time, a day after the Dept. of Justice approved the deal, ALK completed the $1.9 billion acquisition of HA.  Later, BA began furloughing thousands of workers via a one week off every four weeks scheme.  BA announced this will last for the duration of the strike by 33k of its workers in the Pacific Northwest.  At the same time, the UAW announced it is considering multiple US strikes against STLA for breaking the contract promises it made a year ago.  (The six-week strike a year ago cost the company $834 million.) Later, ROG announce it will buy a controlling stake in the Toronto Raptor’s NBA team and NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs from BCE for $3.46 billion. 

Elsewhere, the UAW said that they have set a September 26 strike deadline for the F River Rouge complex near Dearborn MI.  500 of the complex’s 6,000 workers would participate if a strike takes place.  Later, AMZN announced it is raising the pay of its fulfillment and transportation employees by at least $1.50 per hour (and giving them a free Amazon Prime membership) as the company fights unionization and internal pressure for better pay and conditions. At the same time, GM announced it is offering adapters to its electric vehicle owners that would allow them to use the TSLA network of chargers. Finally, TUP did file for bankruptcy Wednesday as was rumored earlier in the week.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Wednesday, GSK announced it has agreed to settle two lawsuits in CA that had claimed its discontinued Zantac heartburn drug caused cancer.  (No financial details were released.)  Later, the CEO of GME (Cohen) agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to the FTC for failing to disclose that he purchased $100 million of voting shares in WFC in 2018.  (He did so not as an investment, but as a way to influence WFC operations and in pursuit of a board seat.)  At the same time, GOOGL won a legal challenge against a $1.7 billion fine from EU antitrust regulators.  The court agreed with the regulator, but threw out the fine.  The antitrust commission can appeal. 

Meanwhile, a separate ruling announced at the same time, went against QCOM as it got the court to trim the fine from $269.07 million to $265.40 million.  Later, GOOGL asked a UK tribunal to throw out a $9.3 billion lawsuit alleging the company abused its dominance in the online search market.  Back in the US, OCFC agreed to pay a $15.1 million settlement for “redlining” via loan discrimination against Black, Hispanic, and Asian loan applicants between 2018 and 2022.  At the same time, a second “Zantac trial,” this one against private German firm Boehringer Ingelheim rather than partners GSK, PFE, or SNY ended in a hung jury.  Later, FHN agreed to pay $325k to settle SEC charges in relation to the bank’s recommendations of certain products.

In government funding news, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson brought a six-month government funding extension (continuing resolution) including a completely unrelated MAGA voting restriction rider to a vote.  (As instructed and demanded by the GOP’s disgraced Presidential candidate.)  It failed by a vote of 202-220, as 14 GOP members voted against the ridiculous electioneering stunt.  (The main point of the amendment is requiring people to prove their citizenship before voting. This is stupid since it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote and there are only a miniscule number of such cases ever found. This plan would also not even take effect this election cycle as the GOP imply and would like the public to believe. So, it’s an expensive, unfunded, and difficult to implement solution to a non-problem that would not be implemented when the GOP wrongly claims it is needed. In other words, the GOP is happy to risk the economic impact and disruption of government shutdown for yet another attempt to whip up fear and “other” the groups the GOP sees as “they.”)  Even more silly is the fact that the whole bill would be dead on arrival in the Senate. Unfortunately, Johnson and other GOP Congressmen then told reporters that the Republicans have no “Plan B” for government funding.  So, this does increase the probability of a government shutdown on October 1. 

In miscellaneous news, the SEC unanimously (5-0) voted to approve a rule change to allow exchanges to price stocks in half penny increments.  There is no word on when such a change might be implemented.  However, NDAQ immediately said it would study the matter, but that it would hurt stock markets in the long run (for unspecified reasons).  Elsewhere, the US has sued the owner and operator of the Singapore-flagged ship that hit the Baltimore bridge earlier this year, killing six and causing massive damage. The Dept. of Justice is seeking more than $100 million (just for costs incurred in the recovery, expect other suits to cover rebuilding and economic damages) and are alleging the company cut corners on maintenance to save costs, causing the crash.

Overnight, Asian markets were green across the board.  Japan (+2.13%), Hong Kong (+2.00%), and Taiwan (+1.68%) led the region higher on the day.  Meanwhile, in Europe, with the minor exception of Portugal (-0.31%) we see the same green picture at midday.  The CAC (+2.01%), DAX (+1.52%), and FTSE (+1.20%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a gap higher to start the day.  The DIA implies a +1.13% open, the SPY is implying a +1.62% open, and the QQQ implies a +2.07% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are up to 3.713% and Oil (WTI) is up 0.75% to $71.42 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Thursday includes the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, Q2 Current Account, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, and Philly Fed Mfg. Employment (all at 8:30 a.m.), August Existing Home Sales and August US Leading Economic Index (both at 10 a.m.), and Fed Balance Sheet (4:30 p.m.).  The only major earnings reports scheduled for before the open is CBRL, DRI, and FDS.  Then, after the close, FDX, LEN, and MLKN report.

In economic news later this week, on Friday, there is no major news, but Fed member Harker speaks. In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Friday there are no earnings reports of note.

So far this morning, FDS reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  At the same time, DRI missed on both the top and bottom lines.  (CBRL is scheduled to report at 8 a.m.)

With that background, it looks like the Bulls are running this morning. All three major index ETFs gapped higher to start to premarket and have printed larger, white-body candles since then in the early session. SPY and DIA are sitting at new all-time highs again in the premarket. All three remain well above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. The mid-term trend is now also bullish with QQQ the laggard gapping well over its downtrend line going back to July. In the longer-term we still have a strong Bull trend all three major index ETFs. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are too far extended above their T-lines, but they are starting to get close in the early session today. However, at the same time, the T2122 indicator is still in the middle of its overbought range. So, markets have room to run either direction (if one side or the other can find momentum), but the Bears have a little more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, all 10 are strongly green so far this morning. AMD (+334%), NVDA (+3.15%), and TSLA (+3.00%) lead the gains while NVDA and TSLA lead the dollar-volume traded as usual. NFLX (+1.52%) is the “laggard” among those 10 bellwethers.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Tuesday saw the Bulls go get their new all-time highs and then the Bears fade those gains.  SPY gapped up 0.39%, DIA gapped up 0.23%, and QQQ gapped up 0.63%.  After that open, all three major index ETFs chopped and then rallied to new highs by mid-morning.  Having achieved new all-time highs in SPY and DIA as well as breaking the downtrend line in the QQQ, then the Bears took over to drive the market to lows by early afternoon.  From there, all three chopped sideways between their lows and the previous close for the rest of the day.  This action gave us black-bodied, indecisive, Spinning Top type candles in all three major index ETFs.  The SPY printed a new all-time high and had a gain for the day, but closed slightly below an all-time high close. The DIA did the same, except for closing seven cents below Monday’s close.  At the same time, QQQ gapped up and retested its downtrend line reaching back to the all-time high in July.  However, it closed back below that line.  This happened on less than average volume.

On the day, six of the 10 sectors were in the green again, with Energy (+1.07%) out in front of the others leading the market higher. On the other side, Communications Services (-0.99%) lagged behind the other sectors.  Meanwhile, SPY increased 0.04%, DIA lost 0.03%, and QQQ gained 0.05%. VXX gained 2.15% to close at 50.30% and T2122 fell slightly again but remains in the top half of its over-bought range at 92.34. At the same time, 10-Year bond yields gained to close at 3.644% while Oil (WTI) gained 1.75% to close at $71.32 per barrel.  So, Tuesday saw the Bulls get their new all-time highs in the large-cap indexes.  However, then traders took profits, afraid to hold too much long risk going into tomorrow’s Fed decision, statement, and press conference.

The only major economic news scheduled for Tuesday included the August Month-to-Month Core Retail Sales, which were lower than expected at +0.1% (versus a forecast of +0.2% and the July reading of +0.4%).  On the headline number, August Month-to-Month Retail Sales were stronger than expected at +0.1% (compared to a forecast of -0.2% but down a full percent from July’s +1.1%).  Later, the August Month-on-Month Industrial Production was much stronger than anticipated at +0.8% (versus a +0.2% forecast and far better than July’s -0.9% value).  For the annual number August Year-on-Year Industrial Production was improved at +0.04% versus July’s -0.74% reading.  Meanwhile, July Month-on-Month Business Inventories grew by 0.4% (compared to a forecast and June value of +0.3%).  On the store front side, July Retail Inventories came in as anticipated at +0.5% (versus the +0.5% forecast and up from June’s +0.3% reading).  Then, after the close, Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks showed an inventory build of 1.960 million barrels (compared to a forecasted drawdown of 0.100 million barrels and the prior week’s 2.790-million-barrel drawdown).

In stock news, on Tuesday, BA and union negotiators resume contract talks as the strike against the company continues.  (Analysts report the strike is costing BA $100 million per day in lost sales revenue.)  At the same time, PM announced it would sell its Vectura Group (asthma inhaler maker) to Molex Asia for $198 million.  Later, WMT said it will raise the pay of 100k “Sam’s Club” workers in November.  The entry-level pay will go from $15/hr. to $16/hr.  (This was part of a labor deal struck three years ago.) At the same time, META announced effective immediately it has rolled out “teen accounts” for its Instagram platform, which automatically puts those under age 18 in an account with extra privacy features and parental controls.  Separately, META announced it had banned Russian state media RT for “foreign election interference.”  At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported that JPM is in talks with AAPL about taking over the tech giant’s credit card business from GS. 

Elsewhere, Reuters reported that ARKO is planning to sell its convenience store operations (1,500 stores) for around $2 billion.  (This is a reversal of company strategy and would leave it with a fuel distribution unit that serves 1,800 independent gas stations and 300 unmanned fueling sites.)  Later, Nippon Steel’s CEO (who travelled to Washington to lobby for the deal) told reporters he is now confident the deal to acquire X will be approved “on the merits.”  At the same time, MSFT and BLK announced they plan to launch a $100 billion fund to invest in AI infrastructure to build data centers and fund energy projects.  Later, after the close, BLNK announced it will lay off 14% of its global workforce (about 100 jobs) by the end of Q1 2025 in a cost-cutting program.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Tuesday, CI-owned Express Scripts sued the FTC, alleging the agency’s recent report stating that prescription middlemen raise the cost of drugs is defamatory.  They asked the federal judge to force the rescinding of the report and the recusal of FTC Chair Lina Khan from any decisions involving CI.  The FTC said it plans to fight the lawsuit, saying it stands by its report and that three companies (CI, UNH, and CVS) control more than 80% of the pharmacy benefit manager market.  At the same time, testimony in the case of the FTC seeking to block KR’s $25 billion acquisition of ACI ended Tuesday.  However, a separate trial brought by the WA state Attorney General seeking to block the deal is just in its second day and a second separate trial brought by the Attorney General of CO will begin in Denver on September 30. (The two companies claim to have spent nearly $900 million trying to fight the three cases so far this year.) 

Meanwhile, the CFPB published legal guidance intended to stop banks from charging overdraft fees when consumers had not genuinely consented to the practice. (This is often done via “phantom opt-in” agreements buried in fintech (i.e. websites and ATMs). Later, T agreed to pay $13 million to resolve investigations into the data breach of the cloud vendor in January 2023.  (The breach exposed the information of 8.9 million T customers.)  At the same time, the US Dept. of Justice said it would allow the ALK $1.9 billion acquisition of HA after the airlines agreed to maintain Hawaiian routes, protect frequent flyer rewards, etc.  Later, the Dept. of Energy announced it is accepting bids for 6 million barrels of oil for refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve amidst low oil prices.  After the close, LUNR announced it had been awarded a $4.82 billion contract by NASA for navigation and communications services in the “near space” region.

In other news, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced the results of a month-long study of TSLA’s Autopilot and VLVLY (Volvo) Pilot Assist partial driving automation systems.  The study found that drivers were more likely to be distracted when using these driver assistance systems.  In fact, it found they were distracted 30% of the time because the driver had been trained that they could focus attention on other matters and only need to nudge the wheel every three seconds to avoid escalation.  (It is worth noting that the studied only covered 43 drivers.  So, automakers might argue that the sample size is too small.  However, 30% is a huge number and this may well end up meaning additional costs added to carmakers in the form of tools that guard against driver abuse of “assistance.”)

In look-ahead news, the Fedwatch tool has shown a growing number of traders are betting on a half percent rate cut today.  One months ago, only 25% or interest rate futures bets were for a 50 basis-point cut.  One week ago, that had risen to 34%.  On Monday that had risen to 62%.  Finally, Tuesday night the implied probabilities from interest rate futures trades showed a 63% chance of a half percent cut versus 37% for a quarter percent cut.  (There is absolutely no trades expecting a rate hike, no cut, or a bigger than half percent reduction.)

Overnight, Asian markets were evenly split with six exchanges in the green and six in the red.  Hong Kong (+1.37%) was by far the biggest winner while Taiwan (-0.78%) and New Zealand (-0.67%) paced the losses.  However, in Europe, we see red across the board at midday.  The CAC (-0.45%), DAX (-0.11%), and FTSE (-0.66%) lead the region lower in early afternoon trade.  Meanwhile, in the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a modestly green start to the morning.  The DIA implies a +0.12% open, the SPY is implying a +0.14% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.22% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are up to 3.668% and Oil (WTI) is down 1.32% to $70.25 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday include August Building Permits and August Housing Starts (both at 8:30 a.m.), Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m.), Fed Rate Decision, FOMC Statement, Current Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 1^st-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 2^nd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 3^rd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, Longer-Term Q3 Interest Rate Projection, and FOMC Economic Growth Projections (all at 2 p.m.), Fed Chair Press Conference (2:30 p.m.), and TIC Net Long-Term Transactions (4 p.m.)  The only major earnings reports scheduled for before the open is GIS.  Then, after the close is SCS reports.

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, we get Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, Q2 Current Account, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, Philly Fed Mfg. Employment, August Existing Home Sales, August US Leading Economic Index, and Fed Balance Sheet.  Finally, on Friday, there is no major news, but Fed member Harker speaks.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, we hear from CBRL, DRI, FDS, FDX, LEN, and MLKN.  Finally, on Friday there are no earnings reports of note.

So far this morning, GIS reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.

With that background, it looks as if markets are slightly bullish in the premarket. The three major index ETFs opened modestly higher and are giving us small, white-bodied candles inside Tuesday’s black Spinning Top. QQQ looks like it wants to retest that downtrend line going back to the all-time high in mid-July. At the same time, SPY and DIA are close enough to make another run at their all-time highs again. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. The mid-term trend remains mixed (barely) with the QQQ bearish and just below its downtrend line while the others chase clean air at their highs. In the longer-term we still have a strong Bull trend all three major index ETFs. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are extended above their T-lines yet. However, at the same time, the T2122 indicator remains in the middle of its overbought range. So, markets have room to run either direction (if one side or the other can find momentum), but the Bears have a little more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, seven of the 10 are in the green so far this morning. GOOGL (+0.89%) leads the gains. Meanwhile, NVDA (+0.17%) and TSLA (+0.30%) lead, as usual, in the dollar-volume traded.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Markets were a bit divergent, but mostly sideways on Monday.  SPY opened 0.04% lower, DIA gapped up 0.35%, and QQQ gapped down 0.44%.  After that star, all three major index ETFs were more volatile during the first hour, but then ground their way to the side the rest of the day.  This action gave is indecisive candles with DIA and SPY on the upside and QQQ down.  SPY printed a white-bodied, Hanging Man type candle sitting very near the August highs and even the all-time highs from July.  At the same time, DIA gave us a white-body, Spinning Top, candle that printed both a new all-time high and a new all-time high close. Meanwhile, QQQ printed a long-legged Doji Harami type, perhaps indicating it had failed the downtrend line Friday. This happened on below-average volume in all three of the major index ETFs.

On the day, all 10 sectors were in the green again, with Energy (+1.28%) out in front of the others leading the market higher. On the other side, Consumer Cyclical (+0.16%) lagged well behind the other sectors.  Meanwhile, SPY increased 0.15%, DIA added 0.59%, and QQQ fell 0.44%. VXX gained just less than one percent to close at 49.24% and T2122 fell slightly but remains in the top of its over-bought range at 94.93.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields fell to close at 3.621% while Oil (WTI) gained 2.65% to close at $70.47 per barrel.  So, on Monday the Bulls got their new all-time high in DIA.  However, for the most part, it was a “wait and see” day as traders look forward to the Fed rate decision and Chairman’s press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

The only major economic news scheduled for Monday was the NY Fed Empire State Mfg. Index, which came in quite a bit stronger than expected at 11.50 (compared to a forecast of -4.10 and the August reading of -4.70).  This was the sixth straight month of increases in this indicator of manufacturing strength. 

In stock news, on Monday, BA announced a hiring freeze, paused all non-essential staff travel, and are considering temporary layoffs according to CNBC.  This comes after the union leader for the 33k striking BA workers said he thinks “the work stoppage will drag on for some time.”  At the same time, the Teamsters Union announced that hundreds of AMZN delivery drivers in NY have joined the union.  Later, TGT announced it will hire 100k season employees this year (in-line with the last three years).  In addition, TGT announced it start its holiday promotions early, on October 6.  At the same time, Bloomberg reported that CG is reviving its plan to IPO its Nouryon chemical business.  Later, AMZN CEO Jassy announced he intends to streamline the company, eliminating management layers with a goal of increasing the employee to manager ratio by 15%.  He also announced AMZN will require its employees to return to the office five days per week. During a subsequent Q/A session, Jassy also said that AMZN is eliminating a program that let employees work from anywhere for up to four months per year.

Elsewhere, Reuters reported that BX and Vista Equity Partners are in advanced talks and near a deal to acquire SMAR for roughly $8 billion ($56/share).  At the same time, an ET natural gas liquids pipeline in La Porte, TX caught fire, knocking out power to nearly 1,000 homes and businesses in the area.  After the close, INTC said it plans to set up its Foundry Services unit as an independent subsidiary. (Many traders see this as a potential pre-cursor to INTC potentially spinning off the unit based on recent comments by CEO Gelsinger that INTC is open to considering the sale of some units.) Separately, INTC announced a multi-year, multi-billion per year, deal with AMZN to co-invest in custom chip designs for use in AMZN’s AWS cloud computing services.  Also after the close, Bloomberg reported that TUP is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as this week.  At the same time, MSFT approved a new $60 billion share buyback program and declared a $0.83 Q3 dividend (which is a 10% increase over Q2’s dividend).

In stock legal and governmental news, on Monday, Reuters reported that forty of the world’s leading banks have joined the G-7 pilot digital currency project run by the New York Fed.  This list includes JPM, HSBC, UBS, and MUFG.  Later, INTC was awarded up to $3 billion to develop a “Secure Enclave” (which are critical component chips used across a variety of weapons and national security products).  At the same time, a US District Appeals Court ruled in favor of XOM, CVX, DVN, ET, OXY, PSX, and CLR by ruling against an appeal made by two dozen consumers of their 2020 lawsuit.  The court said there was a lack of proof of the companies’ collusion with Russia and Saudia Arabia to cut oil production to keep oil prices higher. Later, an OR state judge threw out a $260 million jury verdict against JNJ related to the company’s talc (which contained asbestos) causing a woman’s mesothelioma. The judge ordered a new trial, saying the plaintiff’s lawyers had committed “egregious errors.”  After the close, the UAW union filed unfair labor practices charges with the NRLB against STLA.

In miscellaneous news, on Monday, the US offshore energy regulator announced that 20% of US Gulf of Mexico oil production and 28% of its natural gas output in the area remain offline following Hurricane Francine.  Elsewhere, interest rate futures indicated that more traders are expecting a 50-basis-point rate cut on Wednesday. Probabilities of a half percent cut increased from 30% a week ago, to 50% on Sunday to 62% after the close Monday.

Overnight, Asian markets were mostly green.  Hong Kong (+1.34%) led eight gaining exchanges higher while Japan (-1.03%) and Shenzhen (-0.88%) led four lower.  The picture is even more green in Europe as 12 of the 14 bourses are above break-even at midday.  The CAC (+0.57%), DAX (+0.59%), and FTSE (+0.61%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a modestly green start to the day.  The DIA implies a +0.19% open, the SPY is implying a +0.25% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.42% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are down to 3.61% and Oil (WTI) is just on the green side of flat at $70.16 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Tuesday includes August Core Retail Sales and August Retail Sales (both at 8:30 a.m.), August Industrial Production (9:15 a.m.), July Business Inventories and July Retail Inventories (10 a.m.), and Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks (4:30 p.m.).  The only major earnings reports scheduled for either before the open or after the close is FERG prior to the open.

In economic news later this week, on Wednesday, August Building Permits, August Housing Starts, Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories, Fed Rate Decision, FOMC Statement, Current Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 1^st-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 2^nd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 3^rd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, Longer-Term Q3 Interest Rate Projection, FOMC Economic Growth Projections, Fed Chair Press Conference, and TIC Net Long-Term Transactions are reported.  On Thursday, we get Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, Q2 Current Account, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, Philly Fed Mfg. Employment, August Existing Home Sales, August US Leading Economic Index, and Fed Balance Sheet.  Finally, on Friday, there is no major news, but Fed member Harker speaks.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Wednesday, GIS and SCS report.  On Thursday, we hear from CBRL, DRI, FDS, FDX, LEN, and MLKN.  Finally, on Friday there are no earnings reports of note.

So far this morning, FERG missed on revenue while beating on earnings.  FERG also raised its forward guidance.

With that background, it looks as if markets are bullish again in the premarket. All three major index ETFs opened higher (with QQQ providing the biggest gap up) and have traded modestly bullish from that open. DIA is sitting at another all-time high, SPY is retesting its own all-time high, meanwhile QQQ is back up to retest its mid-term downtrend line stretching back to early-July. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. The mid-term trend remains mixed (barely) with the QQQ bearish and just below its downtrend line while the others chase clean air at their highs. In the longer-term we still have a Bull trend all three major index ETFs. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are extended above their T-lines yet. However, at the same time, the T2122 indicator remains in the top end of its overbought range. So, markets have room to run either direction (if one side or the other can find momentum), but the Bears have a little more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, nine of the 10 are in the green so far this morning. INTC (+7.13%) is far and away the percentage gainer on the news of the split out of its Foundry business. Meanwhile, NVDA (+0.71%) is, as always, the dollar-volume leader. Only AAPL (-0.17%) lags among the big dogs.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Friday was a bullish but mostly sideways day in the market.  SPY opened up 0.12%, DIA opened 0.15% higher, and QQQ opened 0.17% lower. At that point, all three major index ETFs rallied all morning, with DIA reaching the high of the day at noon, SPY hitting its high at 1:40 p.m., and QQQ reaching the high of day at 1:55 p.m. From there, all three went on a modest, undulating selloff the rest of the day.  This gave us white-body candles with upper wicks.  SPY gapped up for its fifth-straight gain on well-below average volume. Meanwhile, DIA gapped up for a third-straight gain and a backing off from the all-time high retest and did this on above-average volume.  At the same time, QQQ gapped down, but closed higher for the fifth-consecutive time and closed just down from its downtrend line going back to the all-time high in early July.  QQQ did this on below-average volume.

On the day, all 10 sectors were in the green again, with Basic Materials (+1.63%) and Utilities (+1.61%) well out in front leading the market higher. On the other side, Energy (+0.70%), Communications Services (+0.77%), and Consumer Defensive (+0.78%) were the laggard sectors.  Meanwhile, SPY gained 0.52%, DIA gained 0.72%, and QQQ gained 0.45%.  VXX fell slightly to close at 48.79% and T2122 jumped higher into the top of its over-bought range at 95.09.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields fell to close at 3.657% while Oil (WTI) gained 0.39% to close at $69.24 per barrel.  So, on Friday saw a strong week come to an end on another positive note.  For the week, SPY gained 4.01%, QQQ gained 5.94%, and DIA “lagged” while gaining 2.59%.  (This was collectively the best week in the market of 2024.) 

The major economic news scheduled for Friday included the August Export Price Index, which came in much lower than expected at -0.7% (compared to a -0.1% forecast and July’s +0.5% reading).  At the same time, the August Import Price Index was also lower than anticipated at -0.3% (versus a -0.2% forecast and well below the July +0.1% value).  Later, Preliminary September Michigan Consumer Sentiment was reported at 69.0 (above the 68.3 forecast and 67.9 August number).  At the same time, Preliminary September Michigan Consumer Expectations also came in above the predictions at 73.0 (versus the 71.0 forecast and 72.1 August value).  On the future outlook front, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations were reported down at 2.7% (less than the 2.8% forecast and August reading).  However, the Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations were up to 3.1% (compared to a forecast and August reading of 3.0%).

In stock news, on Friday, UBER announced an expansion of its partnership with GOOGL’s Waymo self-driving taxi unit.  The partnership will bring automated ride hailing to Austin TX and Atlanta GA in early 2025.  At the same time, Danish DSDVF announced it had agreed to acquire German logistics firm Schenker for $15.85 billion.  Later, Bloomberg reported that DBRG is considering the sale of its Southeast Asian unit (EdgePoint Infrastructure) for roughly $4 billion.  At the same time, BCSF (Bain Capital) has hired advisers to help in the sale of its British home and car insurer Esure for roughly $1.31 billion).  Later, the CFO of BA told reporters the company is eager to return to talks after a strike of 33k workers at its Pacific Northwest plants have shut down production of the company’s best-selling 737 MAX jets.  He went on to say the strike now puts delivery targets for 737 MAX planes in jeopardy and will have a financial impact unless settled quickly. 

Separately both MCO and Fitch announced they will reduce their credit ratings on BA to “junk status” unless the strike ends quickly. However, no exact definition of “quickly” was provided in either announcement.)  On Saturday, DIS and DirecTV announced they had reached a deal that allowed the latter to resume broadcast of ESPN and DIS’s other channels to DirecTV’s 11 million customers after a two-week shutdown.  (DirecTV appears to have gotten what they wanted from the negotiation.  Specifically, that was the ability to offer DIS channels on an “ala carte” and “skinny package” basis to its customers…as opposed to DIS requiring “all or nothing” offerings of its channels.)  At the same time, Reuters reported that T is again in talks with SATS over the merger of their Dish and DirecTV companies.  (The initial merger attempt was blocked by the US Justice Dept. in 2002 over anti-trust concerns. However, the entertainment market has obviously changed dramatically since then with streaming and cable market growth.)

In stock legal and governmental news, on Friday, the Washington Post reported that the White House has signaled a delay in making a decision on the Nippon Steel buyout of X. The news comes after Nippon Steel executives flew to Washington to lobby for the deal and the two companies sent a letter to the President urging him to approve the deal or delay the decision until after elections (despite other resistance from both political parties and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US opposing the deal).  Later, Reuters exclusively reported that sources tell it that EU antitrust officials are considering exactly what practices GOOGL will be ordered to end.  However, they will not order the breakup of GOOGL (separating ad technology business from the ad sales unit).  Meanwhile, a DE judge overruled a Newsmax (planning to IPO in late 2024) motion and ruled the company must face trial for its defamation of Smartmatic (as part of a campaign in support of the disgraced former President’s election lies).

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported that the EU is planning a final vote on raising tariffs on Chinese EVs on September 25.  Later, the State Dept. approved the sale of $7.2 billion of LMT F-35 fighter jets to Romania.  Later, the US EPA said it has found that ADM violated federal safe drinking water laws as well as the company’s underground injection permit with leaks at its carbon sequestration facility in IL.  At the same time, IEP won the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging the company artificially inflated its share price by issuing “unsustainably high dividends.”  Later, after the close, the Dept. of Justice announced WBA had agreed to pay $106.8 million to settle charges it fraudulently billed the US government (Medicare / Medicaid) for prescriptions it never filled. Alsos after the close, Bloomberg reported that INTC has officially qualified for as much as $3.5 billion in federal grants to make chips for the Dept. of Defense. Saturday, HD agreed to pay $1.98 million to CA for over-charging CA consumers via “checkout scanner violations” where checkout scanners charged higher prices than were listed on the item or shelf.

In miscellaneous news, on Friday, China announced it will raise its retirement age for the first time since 1978.  The Chinese male retirement age will go from 60 to 63 while women’s retirement will be pushed from 50 to 55.  For women in management jobs the increase goes from 58 instead of 55. However, the Chinese government will implement these changes slowly to avoid public unrest.  (This seems to be the country’s first real public acknowledgement, without saying it out loud, of the country’s demographic crisis.)  Elsewhere, on Saturday, China’s Commerce Minister announced that foreign direct investment in China, covering January through August, had fallen 31.5% year-on-year.

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed but leaned toward the green with just four of the 12 exchanges in the red.  Malaysia (+0.84%) and Thailand (+0.78%) led the gainers while New Zealand (-1.00%) and Shenzhen (-0.88%) paced the losses.  In Europe, we see a similar picture taking shape with six of the 15 bourses under water at midday.  The CAC (+0.02%), DAX (-0.26%), and FTSE (-0.04%) in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a mixed start to the day.  DIA implies a +0.21% open, the SPY is implying a flat +0.03% open, and QQQ implies a -0.19% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are down to 3.646% and Oil (WTI) is up almost half a percent to $68.98 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Monday is limited to the NY Fed Empire State Mfg. Index (8:30 a.m.).  here are no major earnings reports scheduled for either before the open or after the close.

In economic news later this week, on Tuesday, we get August Core Retail Sales, August Retail Sales, August Industrial Production, July Business Inventories, July Retail Inventories, and Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks.  Then Wednesday, August Building Permits, August Housing Starts, Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories, Fed Rate Decision, FOMC Statement, Current Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 1^st-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 2^nd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, 3^rd-Year Q3 Interest Rate Projection, Longer-Term Q3 Interest Rate Projection, FOMC Economic Growth Projections, Fed Chair Press Conference, and TIC Net Long-Term Transactions are reported.  On Thursday, we get Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, Q2 Current Account, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, Philly Fed Mfg. Employment, August Existing Home Sales, August US Leading Economic Index, and Fed Balance Sheet.  Finally, on Friday, there is no major news, but Fed member Harker speaks.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Tuesday we hear from FERG.  Then Wednesday, GIS and SCS report.  On Thursday, we hear from CBRL, DRI, FDS, FDX, LEN, and MLKN.  Finally, on Friday there are no earnings reports of note.

In overnight news, according to Bloomberg the Dollar fell to its lowest level in nine months, with the move driven by a strong Yen, which reached a 14-month high.  Most of these machinations come from speculation on not only the Fed but other central bank rate decisions due this week.  Speaking of anticipated central bank decisions, the Fedwatch tool tells us the futures trader positions indicate a 59% probability of a half percent Fed rate cut Wednesday while a quarter-point cut has a 41% chance.  This is a 30% shift toward half point in the last week.  However, those probabilities are volatile, with 15%-20% moves in a day recently.  Finally, PFE published mid-stage trial results in the New England Journal of Medicine which say its experimental cancer treatment ponsegromab has shown positive results treating the weight loss (loss of appetite) that is caused by the cancer.  (That condition, cachexia, impacts 9 million people worldwide and results in 80% of them dying within one year due to the inability to withstand the actual cancer treatments.)

With that background, it looks as if markets are undecided early in the premarket. DIA opened slightly higher and has put in a white-body candle with almost no wick as it moves to retest its all-time high in the early session. However, SPY opened down modestly and has printed an indecisive Doji candle in the Premarket. At the same time, QQQ opened flat but has printed a black-body candle with little wick as it is working on a Bear Harami candle at this point. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. The mid-term trend remains mixed with the QQQ bearish and just below its downtrend line. In the longer-term we still have a Bull trend all three major index ETFs. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are extended above their T-lines. However, at the same time, the T2122 indicator is back in the top end of its overbought range. So, markets have room to run either direction (if one side or the other can find momentum), but the Bears has a little more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, they are split evenly between gainers and losers early, but the dollar-volume trading leaders are in the red, led by NVDA (-1.60%), AAPL (-2.34%), and TSLA (-0.03%).

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Thursday gave us another bullish day with much less whiplash than Wednesday. SPY opened 0.11% higher, DIA opened up 0.12%, and QQQ opened up just 0.07% higher.  From there, all three major index ETFs meandered sideways for the morning before starting a midday rally that took us to the highs of the day at about 2 p.m.  At that point, SPY and DIA ground sideways in a tight range and QQQ had a 15-minute selloff at 2:45 p.m. before following the others sideways in the same tight range. This action gave us white-bodied candles with lower wicks in all three.  SPY and DIA both retested their T-line (8ema) and 17ema before rebounding to close at the top of the candle. For its part, QQQ crossed back above its 50sma.  This all happened on below-average volume for all three major index ETFs.

On the day, all 10 sectors were in the green, with Basic Materials (+1.82%) well out in front leading the market higher. On the other side, Healthcare (+0.30%) lagged behind the other sectors. Meanwhile, SPY gained 0.84%, DIA gained 0.66%, and QQQ gained 0.98%.  VXX fell slightly to close at 48.94% and T2122 jumped back up into the middle of its over-bought range at 88.54.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields rose to close at 3.685% while Oil (WTI) jumped up another 2.79% to close at $69.19 per barrel.  So, on Thursday saw the fourth-straight day of gained in SPY and QQQ (also a second-straight for DIA).  It was big tech names NVDA (+1.91%), TSLA (+0.74%), AVGO (+3.97%), and META (+2.69%) that drove the SPY and QQQ on dollar-volume.   

The major economic news scheduled for Thursday included the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, which came in a bit higher at 230k (compared to a forecast of 227k and prior week value of 228k).  On the ongoing front, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims were up a bit as anticipated at 1,850k (in-line with the 1,850k forecast and up from the prior week 1,845k reading).  At the same time, August Month-on-Month Core PPI was up to +0.3% (versus the +0.2% forecast but well up from July’s -0.2%).  On the headline number, August Month-on-Month PPI was also up to +0.2% (compared to a +0.1% forecast and July’s 0.0% value).  On the budget front, the August Federal Budget Balance showed a much higher than expected deficit at -$380.0 billion (measured against a forecast of -$285.7 billion and July’s -$244.0 billion reading).  Then, after the close, the Fed Balance Sheet was up $2 billion for the week to $7.115 trillion from last week’s $7.113 trillion.

The WASDE Ag report also came out Thursday.  It reported an increased 2024 corn crop forecast, up 39 million bushels from last month to 15.2 billion bushels.  The silver lining for farmers is that the 55-million-bushel reduction in the beginning inventory number (due to increased usage in ethanol production).  Meanwhile, the Soybean forecast was left unchanged at 4.586 billion bushels. 

After the close, ABDE and RH both reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.

In stock news, on Thursday, LLY announced it will invest $1.8 billion to expand its Irish manufacturing operations.  This doubles the company’s investment in those two plants in Ireland.  At the same time, GILD reported the results of a Phase 3 trial showing that its injectable HIV prevention drug reduced infections by 96%. (This is far superior to the existing oral pill prevention treatment.)  Later, GIS announced it has agreed to sell its North American yogurt business to a French company for $2.1 billion.  At the same time, MSFT reported it recovered after an outage of its cloud-based Office365 suite. Later, cable provider CHTR said Thursday that it is adding WBD’s Max and Discovery+ streaming services to its cable packages at no additional charge. 

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that GM is in talks to buy electric vehicle batteries (built in the US but made using Chinese company CATL’s technology).  The proposed source would be a TTDKY (Japanese company TDK) plant to be located somewhere in the Southeastern US.  Later, AAL flight attendants voted to ratify the new 5-year contract with the airline. At the same time, AMZN announced plans to invest $2.1 billion in its Delivery Service Partners program over the next six years.  This includes an increase in DSP partner compensation of $660 million over the next year.  Later, MA announced it is buying threat intelligence company “Recorded Future” from a private equity firm for $2.65 billion.  At the same time, an SEC filing showed that Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance unit leader (Ajit Jain) sold more than half of his BRKA stock on September 9th.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Thursday, the NHTSA announced it has opened a preliminary investigation into VFS (Vietnam’s VinFast electric car maker) on reports of the company’s “Lane Assist” system malfunctioning.  At the same time, a Philly Court jury ruled in favor of BAYRY (Bayer) in a lawsuit alleging the company’s Roundup weed killer caused a plaintiff’s cancer.  Later, the FDA approved the first over-the-counter hearing aid software that is intended to be used with AAPL’s AirPod Pro headphones.  At the same time, NAVI accepted a CFPB-imposed ban on servicing federal student loans, as well as the $120 million settlement ($100 million in restitution and a $20 million fine).  This action was taken over NAVI steering borrowers to delay repayment rather than taking the lower-profit repayment plans those borrowers were qualified to get.  Later, Reuters reported that Indian antitrust regulators have found that AMZN and WMT (Flipkart unit) have violated India’s local competition laws by giving preference to selected sellers on their websites.  Specifically, the report said that each of the antitrust charges brought against the companies were found to be true. 

Elsewhere, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency announced it had entered into a formal agreement prohibiting WFC from expanding its product offerings and requiring the bank to submit action plans to fix its anti-money-laundering compliance programs.  (WFC stock was down more than 4% on the news.)  Later, the FAA reported that an ALK jet had to abort takeoff to avoid collision with a LUV jet at Nashville’s airport on Thursday.  An investigation is underway.  At the same time, the Treasury Dept. announced proposed corporate alternative minimum tax rules that would impact 100 large corporations that currently pay an average of 2.6% in taxes (60 of them paying less than 1%).  The proposals will generate about $250 billion over 10 years according to Treasury.  Later, a US Appeals Court threw out a $564 million jury verdict against BMO over its role in a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.  At the same time, a federal judge overruled a CFTC decision that had prohibited betting on US elections.  So, there will be betting on various election outcomes.  After the close, Reuters reported that OXY will receive up to $500 million in support for its carbon capture facility in south TX.

In miscellaneous news, on Thursday, Reuters reported that more than 340k customers were without power in LA following Hurricane Francine.  Meanwhile, the CDC reported it still has not identified the origin of a human case of bird flu in MO.  (The patient had no known exposure to poultry flocks or dairy herds.)  This was the 14^th human case so far this year requiring hospitalization and the first with unknown origin.  Elsewhere, the SEC announced it is set to vote on new “tick size” rules at a public meeting at 10 a.m. on September 18.  The proposed changes would allow stock pricing in increments of less than a penny.  (The confusing rule would have four different buckets, with some stocks pricing in penny increments, while others trade in half penny, fifth of a penny, of tenth of a penny increments.)

In what is widely seen as a precursor to Fed action next week, the ECB cut rates by a quarter point again (for the second time this year), lowering its deposit rate to 3.50%.  Elsewhere, the Fedwatch tool showed that Feds Fund Futures trades are indicating a increase in the probability of a half percent cut next following the PPI data release.  On Wednesday, there was only a 14% probability of a 50-basis-point cut (the other 86% being on a quarter-point cut).  However, one day later, that percentage more than doubled to 31% probability of a half percent and 69% expecting a quarter percent cut.  In tangentially-related news, mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac said on Thursday that the US average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.20%. That is the lowest rate since February 2023.

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed but mostly green with just four of the region’s 12 exchanges showing red.  Malaysia (+0.84%), and Hong Kong (+0.75%) led the gainers while Shenzhen (-0.88%) and Japan (-0.68%) paced the losses.  However, in Europe, we see green across the board at midday.  The CAC (+0.28%), DAX (+0.52%), and FTSE (+0.30%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a modestly green start to the day.  The DIA implies a +0.13% open, the SPY is implying a +0.17% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.03% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are down to 3.648% and Oil (WTI) is up another 1.13% to $69.75 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Friday includes August Export Price Index, and August Import Price Index (both at 8:30 a.m.), Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations (all at 10 a.m.).  There are no major earnings reports scheduled for either before the open or after the close.

In overnight news, aerospace giant BA’s problems increased even more as workers in the Pacific Northwest (more than 30k workers) rejected the company’s contract offer by a massive 96% vote against and promptly went on strike.  This was the first BA strike since 2008 and it completely halts production of the company’s best-selling 737 line of jets.  Elsewhere, President Biden proposed a rule change that would prevent low-value shipments (largely made up of Temu and Shein retail packages) from getting special custom exemptions and avoid tariffs on Chinese goods.  (The White House estimates that those type of shipment have increased from 140 million per year to more than a billion over the last 10 years.)

With that background, all three major index ETFs opened the premarket just on the green side of flat and have been largely indecisive since that point. All three remain above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. At the same time, the mid-term trend remains mixed with the QQQ bearish. In the longer-term we still have a Bull trend in the DIA, SPY, and QQQ. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are extended above their T-lines. However, at the same time, the T2122 indicator is back in the center of its overbought range. So, markets have room to run either direction (if one side or the other can find momentum), but the Bears has a little more slack to work with today. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, six of the 10 are in the green this morning, led higher by AMD (+0.68%) and GOOGL (+0.65%). On the other side, TSLA (-0.34%) is the laggard. Normalcy has returned to the pre-market dollar-volume with NVDA having traded about five times as much dollar-volume of stock as the next closest ticker this morning.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Markets gave us major whiplash on Wednesday. SPY opened a small 0.01% lower, DIA gapped down 0.27%, and QQQ gapped up 0.23%.  However, at the point, all three major index ETFs sold off sharply and steadily for about 60-75 minutes. Then we saw momentum switch flipped and all three rallied sharply and steadily for the rest of the day. Only profit-taking the last five minutes kept us from closing at the highs in all three major index ETFs.  This action gave up large white-bodied candles with large lower wicks.  SPY and DIA were white Hammer type candles while QQQ had a larger body.  All three crossed above their T-line, although DIA closed only slightly above its 8ema.  This happened on average volume in the SPY and DIA as well as well-above average volume in the QQQ.

On the day, seven of the 10 sectors were in the green, with Technology (+2.43%) way, way (more than 1.25%) out front leading the Bulls higher. On the other side, Consumer Defensive (-0.60%) lagged well behind the other sectors.  Meanwhile, SPY gained 1.03%, DIA gained just 0.25%, and QQQ popped 2.17% higher.  VXX dropped another 4.25% to close at 49.33% and T2122 rose up into the center of its mid-range at 47.68.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields rose to close at 3.655% while Oil (WTI) jumped up another 2.37% to close at $67.31 per barrel on potential hurricane impact.  So, on Wednesday saw the Bears trying to make hay on flat CPI numbers until a major mid-morning reversal ripped their faces off and did not let up the rest of the day.  As usual, NVDA led the market on the dollar-volume of stock traded, but this time also chipped in with a strong 8.15% gain.  

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday included August Core CPI (month-on-month), which rose a tick to +0.3% (compared to the +0.2% forecast and July reading).  However, on the annual basis August Core CPI was flat at +3.2% (versus a forecast and July value of +3.2%).  On the headline front, the month-on-month August CPI was flat at +0.2% (compared to a forecast and July reading of +0.2%).  On the year-on-year basis, August CPI was down sharply to +2.5% (right on the +2.5% forecast but down sharply from July’2 +2.9% value).  Later, EIA Weekly Crude Oil Inventories were down, about as expected, at +0.833 million barrels (versus a +0.900 million barrels forecast but up sharply from the prior week’s -6.873 million barrels number). 

In “here we go again” news, we are facing another potential government shutdown at the end of September.  Yet again, the GOP has put off either a budget or a continuing resolution to the last minute.  And just as in so many times before, GOP in-fighting has stopped progress as the deadline looms.  This time, a previously-scheduled vote on a Republican-dictated bill was canceled for Wednesday because the House Speaker did not want to go through the embarrassment of previous vote failures.  So, the Speaker told reporters that the Republican caucus will “work through the weekend” to try to get enough votes for their partisan bill, which he hopes to put up for a vote next Tuesday.  In the meantime, we wait for the next act in this play as the calendar ticks down with less than three weeks left.

In Fed news, on Wednesday the Fed Office of the Inspector General released a report saying its investigation had found that Atlanta Fed President Bostic had created the appearance he had traded on confidential Fed information 154 times between March 2018 and March 2023.  The report said there was no evidence Bostic actually traded on inside information.  However, his investment managers (who traded his personal account) had made trades 154 times during Fed “blackout periods” just ahead of FOMC announcements.  In addition, the investigation found that Bostic filed inaccurate financial disclosure forms, held more Treasuries than the Fed permits, and twice made trades that were different than what he had gotten pre-approval from the Fed to make.  The Fed Board of Governors will now review the report and decide appropriate action.

In stock news, on Wednesday STLA announce it will invest $406 million to retool three MI facilities to build components that can be shares between hybrid and all-electric vehicles.  At the same time, GME announced it would be issuing up to 20 million more shares of stock to raise cash for “general corporate purposes.”  (GME closed down almost 12% on the news.)  Later, ADBE announced it will release a new AI-powered video creation and editing tool later this year.  At the same time, SEC filings showed that BRKB had sold another 5.8 million shares of BAC between September 6 and September 10.  (That takes the BRKB offloading of BAC to almost 175 million since mid-July.)    Later, RHHBY (Roche) reported disappointing early-stage trial results or its weight-loss pill. 

Elsewhere, the CEO of RTX told an investor conference that he does not see any available “transformative M&A deals” in the aerospace industry and he is open to paring down the RTX business by pruning (selling) certain units.  Later, Reuters reported that BA is facing a possible strike Friday in the Pacific Northwest.  It seems that despite a tentative deal, which workers vote on ratifying on Thursday, many of the workers are enraged by the deal because it offers a much lower pay increase and other benefits that had been sought.  At the same time, AMZN announced it will invest $1.8 billion, this time in Brazil and by 2034, to add to its AWS cloud computing capacity. Later, NSC officially terminated its CEO (for an inappropriate relationship with the company’s top legal officer) and replaced him with the CFO.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Wednesday, a number of business trade and lobbying groups came out in favor of Nippon Steel’s acquisition of X while trying to also not criticize their target (politicians).  The letter said the signers were “concerned the decision is being unduly influenced by political pressure.”  (However, both sides of the political aisle are strongly and publicly against allowing the acquisition.)  Later, a US District judge ruled in favor of an industry group (whose members include META, GOOGL, and SNAP) and against a UT state law requiring social media platforms to verify user age and restrict the accounts of minors. At the same time, Semaphore reported that the US Dept. of Commerce is close to approving the export of advanced NVDA AI chips to Saudi Arabia. 

Elsewhere, after the close, the CFPB ordered TD to pay $28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers with credit reporting agencies, hurting customer credit scores.  At the same time, the EU’s top privacy regulator announced it has opened an investigation of GOOGL over its AI use of European consumer personal data.  Later, EA, MSFT (Activision division), and TCEHY (Tencent) were among the companies hit with an EU consumer complaint over “tricking” children game players into spending more money via in-game currencies. At the same time, evidence was presented at GOOGL’s ad network antitrust trial that an ex-executive told company employees that the goal was to crush rival ad networks. 

In miscellaneous news, on Wednesday Reuters reported that Korean-listed electronics giant Samsung will cut up to 30% of its “overseas staff” across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Samsung is the world’s leading producer of smartphones, memory chips, and TVs and has more than 147,000 employees outside of South Korea.  The report said the cuts had already begun in India.  Reuters reported that the story had been confirmed by six Samsung sources.  Elsewhere, about 39% of US Gulf of Mexico oil production and 49% of US natural gas production in the area were shut down on Wednesday due to Hurricane Francine.  Meanwhile, Rho Motion reported that global electric vehicle sales were up 20% in August, despite a 33% decrease (which caused a 19-month low) in Europe. The increase was driven by record sales in China, which were up 42%.  

Overnight, Asian markets were mostly green with nine of the 12 exchanges closing above break-even.  Japan (+3.41%), Taiwan (+2.96%), and South Korea (+2.34%) led the region higher.  In Europe, we see green across the board at midday.  The CAC (+0.78%), DAX (+1.09%), and FTSE (+0.73%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a modestly green start to the day.  The DIA implies a +0.14% open, the SPY is implying a +0.12% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.06% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are up to 3.668% and Oil (WTI) is up 1.75% to $68.49 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Thursday includes Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, August Core PPI, and August PPI (all at 8:30 a.m.), WASDE Ag report (noon), August Federal Budget Balance (2 p.m.), and the Fed Balance Sheet (4:30 p.m.)  The major earnings reports scheduled for before the open include Thursday, we hear from BIG, CAL, KR, and SIG.  Then, after the close, ABDE and RH report.

In economic news later this week, on Friday, we get August Export Price Index, August Import Price Index, Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Friday, there are no reports scheduled.

So far this morning, SIG beat on both the revenue and earnings lines.  However, CAL missed on both the top and bottom lines.  (KR reports at 8 a.m.)

In overnight news, MRNA announced plans to cut $1.1 billion in costs by 2027 on expectation of a rapid decline in its COVID vaccine business.  However, the company also said it expects to have 10 new biotech products approved over that same period.  Meanwhile, MCD announced it will extend its “$5 value meal” program through the end of the year in most US markets.  (Approximately 80% of MCD franchisees have chosen to do this program extension.)  Elsewhere, Bloomberg reports that both JPM and BAC are rolling out programs to reduce junior staff workloads.  JPM will limit MOST junior staffers to only 80 hours per week.  At the same time, BAC is rolling out a so-called “Banker Diary” system to track individual employee workloads.  (I’m sure that in no way will be used for analyzing and ranking employee productivity.)

With that background, all three major index ETFs opened the premarket higher, but have printed small and indecisive (mostly wick) candles since that point. All three are above their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bullish. At the same time, the mid-term trend is mixed at best with the QQQ now bearish. In the longer-term we still have a Bull trend with the DIA, SPY, and QQQ. In terms of extension, none of the three major index ETFs are extended, having just re-crossed their T-lines. At the same time, the T2122 indicator is back in the center of its mid-range. So, markets have room to run either direction if one side or the other can find momentum. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, eight of the 10 are in the green this morning, led higher by GOOGL (+1.15%). On the other side, TSLA (-0.54%) is the laggard. Interestingly, normalcy has returned to the pre-market dollar-volume with NVDA having traded more than six times as much stock as the next closest ticker.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Plans • Private 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

Tuesday was a down then up day.  SPY gapped up 0.35%, DIA gapped up 0.26%, and QQQ gapped up 0.41%.  At that point, all three major index ETFs did some form of morning selloff that re-crossed the opening gap and reached the lows of the day about noon.  This was followed by a long, steady rally into the end of the day.  This action gave us gap-up candles with long lower wicks.  The SPY printed a white-bodied, small-body, long-handle Hammer, while DIA gave us a larger, black-bodied Hammer that retested and failed its T-line (8ema) from below.  For its part, QQQ made the most gain with a gap-up, larger white-body Hammer candle.  However, this all happened on much lower-than-average volume in all three major index ETFs.

On the day, six of the 10 sectors were in the green and, while it may be a data issue, TC200 showed Consumer Cyclical (+10.89%) way, way out front leading the market higher.  On the other side Energy (-1.60%) was by far the worst-performing sector. At the same time, SPY gained 0.44%, DIA lost 0.20%, and QQQ gained 0.92%.  VXX fell another 1.77% to close at 51.52% and T2122 was just shy of being flat to stay in the bottom portion of its mid-range at 34.25.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields fell to close at 3.644% while Oil (WTI) dropped another 3.54% to close at $66.28 per barrel.  So, Tuesday did see some movement with a gap up, significant selloff and then steady rebound rally all afternoon.    

The major economic news scheduled for Tuesday are limited to EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook that showed power consumption was still on track to rise to new records in 2024 and 2025.  The EIA projects growing data center demand will increase electric usage to 4,101 billion kilowatt-hours in 2024 and then 4,185 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025.  (That compares to a 4,000 billion kilowatt-hours in 2023.)  Interestingly, solar accounted for 60% of all electric-generating capacity added in the first half of 2024 with TX leading the way by adding 16 billion kilowatt-hours in the first six months.  Later, Weekly API Crude Oil Stocks, which showed a bigger than expected drawdown of 2.790 million barrels (compared to the +0.700-million-barrel inventory build that was forecasted, but much less than the prior week’s 7.400-million-barrel drawdown) were reported.

After the close, PLAY, GME, and WOOF all missed on the revenue line while beating on the earnings line. 

In stock news, on Tuesday, TSM reported August sales that point toward a Q3 beat.  At the same time, BMWYY (BMW) cut its 2024 financial outlook, citing weaker sales, in particular in China, as well as supply issues. The cut was for EBIT range mid-point to 6.5%, down from 9.0%.  Later, VLKAF (Volkswagen) announced it is scrapping a range of labor agreements, including one that guaranteed a minimum number of jobs at six German plants through 2029.  The company is in serious negotiations with unions and this may be a negotiating tactic, but it raises the unheard-of prospect of job cuts or plant closures at VLKAF’s flagship German factories for the first time in 87 years. At the same time, NBTB announced it had agreed to buy EVBN for $236 million.  The deal will create a bank with $16 billion in assets.  Later, BA announced it delivered 40 jets in August, up five from August 2023 and up eight month-on-month.  In other BA news, Reuters exclusively reported BA had delayed supplier production milestones by six months for its 737 MAX.  (This is a sign BA is now struggling to get production back on schedule for its top-selling 737 MAX planes.)  Later, UPS announced it would acquire German healthcare logistics (temperature-control warehousing and shipping) firm Frigo-Trans and its sister company BPL for an undisclosed sum.

Elsewhere, NKE shareholders rejected (for the second straight year) a proposal that the firm enter into binding agreements to address the human rights of workers at its suppliers (where thousands of NKE garment makers are allegedly unpaid, forced labor).  At the same time, LUV Chairman Kelly announced he is stepping down amidst a board fight by activist investors and CEO Jordan.  Later, CPB announced it is dropping the word “Soup” from its name and will be known as “The Campbell Company” as it shifts into other packaged foods. At the same time, Reuters reported that GS is close to a deal to sell its GM credit card unit to BCS for an undisclosed sum.  (The GM card unit has about $2 billion of card balances outstanding.)  After the close, the CEO of RTX told a conference that the alarms are going off for it with massive problems like its supply chain having never recovered from COVID-19, being unable to find qualified labor for its production lines, and more.  Specifically, RTX CEO Hayes said that 2,000 of the company’s 14,000 suppliers are located in China.  He refused to define it, but said that if “if” ever happens, he doesn’t know what the company will deal with the situation.  After the close, AMZN announced it will invest $10.45 billion in UK Data Centers over the next five years as it builds out its Web Services offerings.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Tuesday, DE agreed to pay $9.93 million to settle SEC charges that its Thailand subsidiary offered massage parlor and other improper gifts to the government of that country from 2017 to 2020 as well as other commercial bribery to win contracts.  At the same time, the SEC fined KDP $1.5 million to settle charges of inaccurate statements regarding the recyclability of its K-cup coffee pods.  Later, the NHTSA announced that VLKAF (Volkswagen) is recalling 99k electric SUVs to fix door handles which allow water to seep into circuit boards and can lead to lock malfunctions. At the same time, a new lawsuit was filed against CHD that alleges the company’s Trojan Condoms are not safe because they contain “forever chemicals.”  Later, Fed Vice-Chair Barr announced revised capital requirement rules for banks in what is widely seen as a big win for major banks and their lobbyists.  (The increase in capital requirements will be roughly half of the increase initially proposed.) 

Meanwhile, the FTC told ANCTF (operator of Circle-K convenience stores) and SVNDF (operator of 7-eleven convenience stores) that it may probe any acquisition deal.  (If the two strike a deal, it would combine the two largest convenience chains in the world.)  Later, a former executive of NWSA testified in the GOOGL antitrust lawsuit, saying that NWSA would have lost $9 billion in 2017 if it had switched away from the GOOGL ad buying platform.  This, he said, kept NWSA captive to GOOGL and feeling like hostages.  After the close WBA and TEVA announced they had settled with the city of Baltimore MD over opioid crisis liability ahead of the trial which was to begin next week.  The two companies will pay $402.5 million to settle the case.  Also after the close, a TPR executive testified that if the company merges with CPRI, they will have room to raise prices and lower discounts, just as the FTC had charged.  However, while those things were also shown in a slide deck from TPR’s CEO, the executive said that did not necessarily mean the company would do those things.

In miscellaneous news, on Tuesday, OPEC+ revised its global oil demand forecast downward for both 2024 and 2025.  This was the second consecutive month OPEC+ has lowered its estimate of worldwide oil usage.  Still, the forecast calls for an increase of 2.03 million barrels per day on average for all of 2024 (down a bit from last month’s 2024 forecast of a 2.11 million barrels per day increase).  For 2025, OPEC+ is calling for an additional increase of 1.74 million barrels per day (versus last month’s estimate of a 1.78 million barrels per day increase).  Meanwhile, FDX warned that some areas of Louisiana may see pickup and delivery delays later in the week as storm Francine is expected to make landfall in the state Wednesday.   Elsewhere, the Census Bureau reported that the median US 2023 INFLATION-ADJUSTED Household income had recovered to pre-pandemic (2019) levels, even considering the inflation spikes of 2022 and 2023. Finally, Bloomberg reported that online grocery prices fell by 3.7% in August which was the largest monthly decline since 2014. 

Overnight, Asian markets were mostly red with just three of the 12 exchanges above break-even.  Japan (-1.49%), Malaysia (-1.24%), and Shanghai (-0.82%) led the region lower.  In Europe, we see the opposite picture taking shape at midday with 11 of the 14 exchanges in the green.  The CAC (+0.29%), DAX (+0.39%), and FTSE (+0.07%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  Meanwhile, in the US, at 7:15 a.m., Futures point toward a down start to the morning.  The DIA implies a -0.40% open, the SPY is implying a -0.30% open, and the QQQ implies a -0.35% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are down to 3.627% and Oil (WTI) is up 2.16% to $67.17 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday is limited to August Core CPI and August CPI (both at 8:30 a.m.), and EIA Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m.).  The major earnings reports scheduled for before the open include DBI, HEPS, and TEN.  Then, after the close, there are no major reports scheduled.

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, August Core PPI, August PPI, WASDE Ag report, August Federal Budget Balance, and the Fed Balance Sheet are reported.  Finally, on Friday, we get August Export Price Index, August Import Price Index, Michigan Consumer Sentiment, Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations, and Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, we hear from BIG, CAL, KR, SIG, ABDE, and RH.  Finally, on Friday, there are no reports scheduled.

So far this morning, DBA reported misses on both the top and bottom lines.  This included a significant (48%) downside earnings surprise.

With that background, all three major index ETFs opened modestly lower in the premarket. Since that point, all three have printed indecisive (largely wick) candles that are back to little-changed from their early session open. All three remain below their T-line (8ema). So, the short-term trend is bearish. At the same time, the mid-term trend is mixed at best with the QQQ now bearish. In the longer-term we still have a Bull trend with the DIA, SPY, and QQQ. In terms of extension, the 8ema has caught up and none of the three major index ETFs are too stretched below it. At the same time, the T2122 indicator is back in the lower half of its mid-range. So, markets have room to run either direction if one side or the other can find momentum. However, the Bulls have a bit more slack to play with. Just remember the mantra “follow, don’t lead, but also don’t chase” in mind. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, six of the 10 are in the red this morning, led again by TSLA (-0.45%). On the other side, AMZN (+0.25%) is holding up best. Oddly enough, TSLA has traded more in the premarket in terms of dollar-volume than NVDA (-0.21%), which normally has 2-5 times as much dollar-volume as the next closest ticker. So, there may be changes afoot or perhaps traders are just waiting on the CPI numbers.

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

See you in the trading room.

Ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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