The market finally found a direction in Thursday’s session – down. Responding to the falling price of oil, volatility in China, and perhaps to cybersecurity concerns, the broad market fell by more than 2%. Media stocks were clobbered, losing 4.23% across the industry. There was little to settle the market’s nerves overnight, as the Shanghai composite retreated 4.25% and WTI crude oil hit a fresh six year low of $40.70.
Today, the selling continues, though it is entirely orderly at present. Possible rays of hope for investors today include a $0.50 uptick in oil prices as well as some unexpected strength in the Euro vs the dollar.
At present, stocks are down. The S&P 500 is down 0.54%, the DJIA is down 0.86% and the NASDAQ is down 0.73%.
Here are your Friday morning market metrics. The industries showing strength today are Communications Equipment and Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment. The industries showing weakness today are Real Estate Management & Development, Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers and Containers & Packaging.
The VIX is up 14.16% to 21.85 after closing yesterday at 19.14. The most active options this morning is SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) with 70,013 August expiring $200 puts changing hands. The total put-call volume ratio is 1.69 (841,917/497,034). NYSE Adv/Dec 737/2,189. NASDAQ Adv/Dec 963/1,440.
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Julian Close became a stockbroker in 1995. In his 20 years of market experience, he has seen all market conditions and written about every aspect of investing. Julian has also written extensively on corporate best practices and even written reports for the United Nations. He graduated from Davidson College in 1993 and received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Mary Baldwin College in 2011. You can follow Julian’s daily hedged options trades and his unfolding market commentary via twitter: @JulianClose_MIC. |
