Disappointing housing data did not get the market down following global markets moving higher. It was a luncheon at the New York Economic club where Janet Yellen stressed the fed’s accommodation stance did the market push to the highs of the session. Steady buying was throughout the day, but volume lacked any indication institutions were in the market accumulating shares. Whoever was buying they were in the market bidding stocks higher. Today’s session marked day two of an attempted rally and it doesn’t really matter on a day like today other than we did not experience any distribution. Tomorrow we’ll see heading into a long weekend whether or not this market can muster a follow-through day.
The focus in the after-hours session will be GOOG, IBM, and AXP earnings. GOOGL for example is just off its February highs and has been leading the NASDAQ lower. AAPL continues trade in a lackluster fashion as we near its earning release next week. MSFT continues to be the strongest out of the bunch and it will release its earnings next Thursday the 24th of April. Earnings continue to pour in and while we don’t trade off the “news” price we certainly do. If we get a signal we’ll simply move along with it.
One thing to keep in mind is the low levels we see in the VIX. Great rallies typically do not come from low levels in the VIX. If we had VIX above 20, and this is even low could produce a solid rally to extract gains from. Actual volatility as measured by ATR remains high suggesting we may see more chop before any meaningful direction takes place. Choppy markets are the death to many whom over trade. A longer time frame can help one avoid the pitfalls of over trading.
We are adhering to our plan and will be ready to pounce any opportunity this market may present to us. It has been choppy, but we aren’t afraid of this market. Stick with the plan.
