"Because the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have
meetings over the next two days, Wall Street simply had a buyers'
strike," claimed Schaeffer's Senior Technical Strategist Ryan
Detrick. "Although there was a move lower late in the day, it was
one of those boring summer days. But that should come to an end as
the rest of this week is full of market-moving events."
Consequently, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
endured a relatively flat session, turning in a moderate loss on
the day.
Keep reading to see what else was on our radar today:
And now, a look at the numbers...
Although the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 13,008.68)
maintained its perch atop the 13,000 level, the blue-chip barometer
drifted 64.3 points, or 0.5%, lower by the closing bell. Twenty-one
of the 30 components parked in the red, as The Home Depot, Inc.'s (
HD
) 2% slide paced the lagging majority. On the other hand,
Pfizer Inc. (
PFE
)
led the nine outperformers with an earnings-induced 1.4% upswing.
The Dow stepped up nearly 1% over the past month.
The
S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1,379.32)
and the
Nasdaq Composite (COMP - 2,939.52)
followed the Dow into negative territory, but fared slightly
better, as the SPX declined nearly 6 points, or 0.4%, while the
COMP lopped off 6.3 points, or 0.2%. During July, the broad market
benchmark increased 1.3%, while the tech-rich COMP eked out a 0.2%
rise.
The
CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX - 18.93)
added roughly 5% today, finally landing just below its session high
of 19.09. The VIX marked its first daily close atop its 40-day
moving average in over a week. For the month, the VIX jumped
10.8%.
Today's highlight
: "The economic data was pretty good," nodded Detrick. "Coming on
the heels of last week's better-than-expected second-quarter GDP
number, today's Chicago PMI and consumer confidence numbers both
showed that the economy might just have a pulse left after a string
of disappointing data over the past few months."
Turning to today's major market stories...
For today's activity in commodities, options, and more, head
to page 2.
Oil futures continued lower for a second day, as skepticism
builds ahead of any action from the Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) and the European Central Bank (ECB). A better-than-predicted
rise in home prices, consumer confidence, and the Chicago PMI
should have lifted black gold; however, the data weighed on
sentiment that enough action will be taken by the central banks to
spur economic growth. Crude for September delivery sank $1.72, or
1.9%, to $88.06 a barrel. For July, the commodity gained 3.7%.
Likewise, gold futures pulled back on dwindling hopes for any
financial stimulus from the FOMC and ECB. After a week's worth of
wins, August-dated gold dropped $9.20, or 0.6%, to land at
$1,610.50 an ounce. The malleable metal inched higher by 0.4% for
the month.
Levels to watch in trading...
-
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 13,008.68)
- support at 11,500; resistance at 14,000
-
S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1,379.32)
- support at 1,100; resistance at 1,500
-
Nasdaq Composite (COMP - 2,939.52)
- support at 2,400; resistance at 3,400
Click the links for coverage on today's
notable annual highs
and
notable annual lows
.
At the end of every market day, the staff at Schaeffer's
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