{+++}The S&P 500 settled just above its 200-day moving average after FedEx raised its forecast and new home sales figures for June proved better than expected. Trading volume was light, though. After the close, ACL, LM, MAS, VECO and VLTR are the only notable names that reported after the close.
Futures are lower after hours with S&P 500 futures 2.16 points below fair value of 1111.76 and Nasdaq 100 futures 2.64 points below fair value of 1889.14.
All ten sectors were in positive territory, led by Industrials (+1.7%), Financials (+1.6%) and Telecom (+1.5%).
Tomorrow morning, no economic reports are scheduled to be released before the open.
Tomorrow before the open of the many companies scheduled to report, some of the bigger names include: AKS, BEAV, BP, CPLA, CRDN, CMI, DD, ENR, LLL, SVU, SAP, TIN, TEVA, X, UA, VLO, WU, and WTNY.
Good day for the home team, I put a fair amount of names on the list last night that looked promising. Some broke out and some are in the process of maybe going higher. We need a good market this week or all bets are off.
I’ve been talking a bit about taxes lately on twitter and here on the site, It will be a war, not a battle to keep the Bush tax cuts in play. The market loves tax cuts, the market hates taxes. Period.
Here is the current and proposed tax situation:
Top Inc. Tax Rate ,,current 35% Jan1, 2011 41%
Capital Gains Rate,, current 15% Jan 1,1011 20%
Top Dividend Rate,,, current 15% Jan 1,2011 39.6
Estate Tax ,,, current 0%, Jan 1, 2011 55%
We’ll see, but if they extend the cuts, this market will go ballistic to the upside. Probably still a few months away, but we need to watch Washington more closely than ever. Don’t worry, I watch this stuff it 24/7. If the tax cut extension conversation meets resistance and fails, the market will cave, trust me on that.
We took 1/2 profits today on BIDU, ADTN and HLF. Many names triggered today and I will watch them closely. As usual, you day traders are taking gains as you see them and maybe the swing traders among us will be able to breath comfortably for more than a few hours. I like our set ups and our technical patterns, we just need the market to keep the punch bowel on the table for a few more days before it gets all bipolar again. And it will.
We are getting near term overbought (hate that phrase) and the volume is horrible. Take the “up” days when you can because buyers have ZERO conviction, they’re just bored. Many hedge funds are sitting in cash and are just trading, Joe Sixpack is long gone, maybe he will come back in the fall.
PLEASE see the P&L as I have raised stops on almost everything.
There are no new names tonight as we have enough to manage right now. I hope you had a great day and i will see you bright and early.
Time to watch Mad Men on my DVR with the wife. Peace.