Month: February 2021

A week dominated by selling ended with a day of indecision. Investor fears of inflation were lifted a bit by economic data that showed inflation might not be as accelerated as thought. Consumer sentiment numbers rose. Personal spending was lower than expected. That resulted in rising treasury bond yields to back off a bit and the US Dollar to strengthen.

Caution turns to fear. There is not much positive to look at in today’s indexes or the market indicators I use for the daily update. Nonetheless, it’s best to look at both sides of action and set some expectations and a plan for tomorrow.

Thank you Jerome Powell. Fears of inflation gave way to more bullish sentiment as investors anticipate a new round of stimulus coming soon. The tech sector stopped it’s multiple day decent and all of the major indexes turned in gains for the day.

Nerves of steel. That’s what it took to keep your eyes on the market today. The Nasdaq opened up with a gap down and pierced below the 50d MA to reach the intraday low within 10 minutes of open. It finally found support at the 13,000 area and made a climb back above the 50d MA. After a retest of that area, it was finally able to climb to an afternoon high before pulling back slightly into close.

It was a tough day for the Nasdaq, big tech, and growth stocks. On days like this, it is important to take a step back and view things from both sides. Avoid trying to make predictions. In this daily update let’s look at what’s going on more broadly, set an expectation for the index tomorrow and look for a follow-through or an expectation breaker.

It was day for almost everyone but the mega-caps. Gainers outnumbered losers at more than a three to two ratio. But the mega-caps, especially in tech, lost ground while the rest of the market advanced . Equal weighted QQQE gained +0.36% while the cap weighted QQQ lost -0.44%.