The big news pre-market today were the retail sales numbers. With that said, the numbers were a big disappointment. Sales fell o.9% compared to expectations for a decline of 0.1%
Volatility continues to be theme thus far, this year. The S&P 500 closed at 2008.32, down .73% . However, our low of the day was 1988.44.
The S&P 500 closed the week slightly below its 50-day moving average, which currently stands at 2045. We opened the week at 2054.44 and closed at 2044.81. However, there was a lot of volatility in between. For example, our low during the week was 1992.44 and the high was 2064.43.
The S&P 500 futures snapped a 5-day losing streak today, as buyers finally stepped in. The index closed at 2025.90, up 23.29 points or 1.16%
In addition to the S&P 500 futures trading higher, we also saw a bounce in Crude Oil prices, snapping a 4-day losing streak and closing at $48.82 per barrel.
The S&P 500 closed the week on a 3 day losing streak, it opened the week at 2087.63 and closed on the first trading day of the year at 2058.20. However, volume was relatively anemic, as most traders were away from their desk’s. This coming week, marks the first 5-day week of the new year, hopefully we should see volume start to pick up.
Interestingly, the VIX hit a high of 20.14, on Friday, January 2, 2015. However, it closed the week at 17.79.
The S&P 500 finished the shortened week up nearly 20 handles, closing at 2088.77, as we enter the final week of trading for the year. This week will also be shortened, as the markets are closed on New Years day.
In respect to economic numbers, we’ve got Jobless Claims on Wednesday, December 31st.
The VIX opened the week at 16.52 and closed at 14.68, on Friday.
This morning we got 3rd quarter GDP numbers. They were revised sharply to 5%, which is the strongest number we’ve seen in over a decade. This was good enough to take the Dow Jones Industrial above 18,000 intraday.
However, volume was relatively light today. In fact, we saw below average volume in the SPY and nearly half the average volume in the VXX. Of course, this is to be expected given the Holidays are around the corner.
The US Equity market has been raging ever since Wednesday’s Federal Reserve Meeting. The S&P 500 had back to back 40 plus handle days, closing the week above 2070. Not to shabby, considering on Tuesday, it was trading around 1970 and change.
As has been the case this year, the market shrugged off any potential fears, including the Russian currency turmoil and weaker energy prices.
Today we saw incredible volatility in the markets. The S&P 500 opened up at 1986.71, hit a high of 2016.89 and then saw a vicious sell off into the close, where we finished near the lows at 1972.74.
This sets up for a very important day tomorrow.
VIX 23.57 +3.15 (15.43%)
LINE 12.54 +2.71 (27.57%)
Traders will be focused on the FOMC, Oil and Russia. Earlier today, Apple announced that their online sales in Russia were currently unavailable.
GrubHub Inc (GRUB) saw 6.2 times usual options volume. We saw one trader buy over 3500 March 35 calls for $2.50 on the offer side.
Mattel (MAT) we saw 7.4 times usual options volume. We saw one trader buy over 5500 April 30 puts for an average price of $1.88 on the offer side.
The Santa Claus rally appears to be in jeopardy, but there is enough new information entering the market tomorrow to potentially change that.
We had an interesting day of market volatility today. The S&P 500 opened at 2056.55, hit a low in the morning of 2034.17 and rallied back in the afternoon to close positive on the day, at 2059.82.
Many of the hi-beta stocks also saw major reversals. Tesla went from a low of $204.27 and closed near the high of the day to $216.89. Apple rallied from a low of $109.35 to close up on the day, at $114.12.
VIX closed near the low of the day after hitting a high of 16.68, to 14.89. Overall, it was a very impressive market comeback…setting us up to what looks like the inevitable Santa Claus rally.
Heading into tomorrow, The biggest reports are the EIA Petroleum numbers at 10:30 am and the Treasury Budget at 2 pm.
On the options front, AAR Corp saw 24.5 times options volume. 92% of the call options traded were on the offer side. There was news earlier this morning that PE firms might be interested in their cargo business.