The market today was under pressure right from the start due to large declines in airlines stocks. 7,000 flights were cancelled as the blizzard moved up the eastern seaboard and affected the large cities in that area. The DOW Jones Transports were lower by as much as 150 points before recovering. The DOW declined by as much as 95 before coming back and ending the day 44 points lower. In addition to the transports, there were losses in CAT, GS, UNH and naturally the energy stocks as crude oil slipped again to $47 a barrel. This was due to a jump in Saudi Arabian production. The NASDAQ had fallen 18 by the closing bell and the S&P 500 lost 8 points today. Recent darlings AMZN and MSFT fell victim to profit taking.
Breadth numbers were horrible at a 1 to 3 downside ratio. The VIX loved this and gained .95 up to 12.30. There has to be a lack of liquidity a bit here as volumes are lower than usual since many investors have been sidelined by the storm.
The February P.P.I. rose by 0.3%, which was a little higher than consensus…but still down from the prior month of 0.6%. This brings the year-over-year gain up to 2.2% at the wholesale level giving the Fed the go-ahead to do its thing tomorrow. It will be the first rate hike of the year. The main issue is whether they will signal a more hawkish pattern by suggesting four hikes instead of the three down the road.
Bond yields were unable to stay above 2.60% as they have fallen slightly under that level for the 10-year maturity. This could very well change after 2 PM tomorrow. The dollar was flat while gold was digging in its heels at the $1,200 level, but wound up the day at $1,198.Donald M. Selkin
These are excerpts from Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes, abbreviated and updated with permission from the author. Don Selkin is the Chief Market Strategist at Newbridge Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC and provides the Fair Value analysis for CNBC each morning. The commentary provided in this Market Letter is intended to provide timely market analysis and should not be considered a research report. This Market Letter may contain, and is limited to: Discussions of broad based indices; Commentaries on economic, political or market conditions; Technical analyses concerning the demand and supply for a sector, index or industry based in trading volume and price; Statistical summaries of multiple companies’ financial data, including listings of current ratings; and, Recommendations regarding increasing or decreasing holdings in particular industries or securities. This Market Letter does not make a financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promotes a product or service of the firm. This Market Letter contains only news, facts, and commentary on information previously reported from a news source believed to be accurate and reliable by the author. These news sources include the following: Bloomberg Financial, Reuters, and the Associated Press.