May 11, 2016 Market Wrap Up

May 11, 2016 tvcuser Education, Trading AMZN, Data, Earnings, Economic, Events, KORS, M, MAS, ODP, S&P 500, SALT, SPLS, TGT, TIF, USO, VIX

The S&P 500 sold off today, giving up nearly all of yesterday’s gains. Two sectors that got really beat up where retail and pharma. For example, we saw heavy selling in: Macy’s (M) -15%, Target (TGT) -5.4%, Michael Kors (KORS) -11.9%, and Tiffany & Co. (TIF) -6% to name a few.

On the other end, Amazon.com (AMZN) was up more than 1%, which appears to be the winner from all this. Not to mention, the Office Depot (ODP) -40% and Staples (SPLS) -18% was called off due to regulatory issues…which might have also helped Amazon out as well.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was up more than 3% today after we got a surprise draw out of the DOE numbers this morning.

The VIX gained more than 7%, closing the day at 14.69.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Scorpio Bulkers (SALT). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Masco (MAS), which saw 3.9 times usual options volume.

Here’s what’s left for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
12 May 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
13 May 2016- Retail Sales 8:30 AM ET, PPR-FD 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
12 May 2016- AER, KSS, MTW, PRGO, RL, JWN, NVDA, SHAK
13 May 2016- JCP

Key Events:
11 May 2016- Bank America Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference (runs till 5/12)
11 May 2016- Bank America Healthcare Conference (runs till 5/12)
11 May 2016- Jefferies Technology Conference (runs till 5/12)

March 24, 2016 Market Wrap Up

March 24, 2016 tvcuser Education, Trading Crude Oil, Data, Economic, ODP, P, PTLA, SIX, VIX, XLNX

The market bounced back from earlier lows to close nearly flat today. Of course, it was done relatively low volume, but still a nice recovery to close out the week.

The VIX traded higher for a good portion of the day, however; as the market rallied, the VIX fizzled, closing the day lower at 14.72.

Crude oil has recently come under pressure after a massive spike in prices over the last month. Prices dropped more than 4% yesterday and were weak to start the US trading session, however; they also bounced back to close nearly flat. With that said, they’re still below $40.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in Six Flags (SIX). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Xilinx (XLNX), which was 4.9 times usual options volume.

Stocks in play included: Pandora (P) +15.6%, Office Depot (ODP) +9.3%, and Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) -29%

The markets will be closed for Good Friday tomorrow.

Key Economic Data:
25 March 2016- GDP 8:30 AM ET