DOW INDUSTRIAL FACTOIDS FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
- Another record close, its 63rd this year
- Largest one-day point gain since Nov. 7, 2016
- Largest one-day percentage gain since March 1
- 24 of the 30 components rose Thursday
- Index has risen eight straight months, longest such streak since July 1995
- It’s up 12 of the past 13 months
- Up 23% year-to-date
- Up 32% from the 2016 Election Day
- Up 271% from its bear low of 6547.05 on March 9, 2009
The old saying is you are supposed to sell the news, but when John McCain came out supporting the president’s tax program, the algo’s went nuts and the stock market rocketed to the upside. At one point the ES was up as much as 30 handles. They say politics and the markets don’t mix, but when McCain came out saying ‘After careful thought and consideration, I have decided to support the Senate tax reform bill, I believe this legislation, though far from perfect, would enhance American competitiveness, boost the economy, and provide long-overdue tax relief for middle class families’, the reaction was stunning, The Dow Jones Industrial average closed above 24000, marking its 5th 1,000-point milestone in 2017. There has never been another year that has seen more than two such round-number marks. It took only 30 trading sessions to rally from the 23000 mark. That makes it the third-fastest run from one millennium marker to the next.
Dow 24,000
There is something to say about the overall price action of the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq. After a big up day they tend to go sideways to down, and after a big down day they tend to go sideways to higher. I know some people have ‘fancy’ indicators, but following the price action, or following patterns, is the best way to read the markets. The other part of this is a lesson we all should never forget; the trend is your friend, now and forever!
After Wednesday’s close the ES traded down to 2621.75 on Globex, but started to rally during the night session and into Thursdays mornings futures open. The Globex range overnight was 2621.75 to 2636.75 and the first print off the 8;30 open was 2636.75. Total overnight volume was 216,000. After the open the ES down ticked, held above 2635.00, rallied up to 2639.75, pulled back down to 2634.25, and then made a new high ar 2840.75. After another pullback just above the vwap at 2635.50, the ES got hit by a big buy program when the NQ started to rip higher, and made a high all the way up to 2644.75, pulled back to the 2643 area and then popped up to 2646.50.
After another pullback down to 2641.25 at at 10:43 a gigantic buy program hit that rocketed the ES all the way up to 2658.50, a 17.25 handle rally in just over one hour. After the high the ES sold off down to 2646.00.
Just before 2:00 the MiM started showing big to buy, at 2:27 it was showing buy $1.238 billion to buy, and at 2:25 it jumped up to over $2 billion to buy. As it did the ES pulled back under the vwap at 2642.75, and then shot up to 2651.50 as the 2:45 NYSE MOC came out $3.2 billion to buy. On the 3:00 cash close the ES traded 2645.00, and then got slammed down to a new low at 2640.25 before going on to close at 2641.25, up 15.75 handles or + 0.60%, 3:15 CT.
The days trade was a great example of how the news can slant people’s view of the markets. The S&P has been going straight up, and the price action has not change one bit. The only trade is buying weakness. In the end the S&P 500 futures (ESZ17:CME) settled at 2648.00, up +23.00 handles, or +0.86%; the Dow Jones futures (YMZ17:CBT) settled at 24,274, up +356 points, or +1.46%; the Nasdaq 100 futures (NQZ17:CME) settled at 6369.00, up +63.50 points, or +0.99%; and the Russell 2000 (RTYZ17:CME) settled at 1545.40, up +4.20 points or +0.27% on the day.
As always, please use protective buy and sell stops when trading futures and options.