February 26, 2015 Market Recap

The S&P 500 closed at 2110, slightly off record highs, down 3 points on the day. The fears out of Europe seem to have disappeared, and money managers seem to be chasing performance. The Nasdaq has been up 11 out of the last 12 sessions.

On tap, tomorrow we have GDP numbers being released. Any miss or blowout number could move the market big in either direction.

Naturally, the market reacted positively to both sets of news pieces.

The VIX barely moved today, closing below 14, at 13.91. The S&P 500 has gained more than 5% this month, the VIX could be headed lower if the markets continue to trade this way.

Crude oil prices are below $50 per barrel, closing at $48.95 today. Many traders believed that the bottom was in on oil, however, the futures sold off over $2. With that said, volatility remains relatively high, and trying to pick a bottom has been a suckers game thus far.

A couple days ago, we mentioned bullish option activity in Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), those March $81 calls that were bought for $1.55, were trading over $2.10 per contract. However, call buyers came in again today, when the options were trading at $1.45 per contract. One trader came in and bought another 15,000 contracts for $1.45. The stock closed at $81.65, up over 2%. Again, this continues to be a name to keep an eye out on, even though it’s at 52 week highs.

Notable stocks that had earnings tonight included: Herbalife LTd. (HLF) -0.5%, Splunk, Inc. (SPLK) +7.14%, Aruba Networks, Inc. (ARUN) +6.15%, Weight Watchers International, Inc. (WTW) -14.35%

Tomorrow is the end of the month, if GDP numbers are in line with expectations, it could be a very slow and dull day of trading. If that’s the case, instead of trading, take time to work on your process, review your trades to see what has and hasn’t worked.

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