Market Takes a Rest

For Trading JUNE 18th

Housing Permits +14.4%

Market Takes a Rest

Small-caps Lead the Way, Lower

Today’s market was a real snore with action contained in a short range until the last hour when the boredom turned to some selling. We finished a narrow, short-range day -170.37 (.65%), NASDAQ +14.66 (.15%), S&P 500 -11.25 (.36%), the Russell -25.73 (1.77%) leading the way after several days of outperformance on the upside. Market internals were unremarkable with NYSE A/D 2:1 lower, NASDAQ 3:2 and NYSE volume 3:1 down. Stronger sectors were consumer discretionary, information technology and communication services with energy, financials and real estate weakest. Concerns about rising Covid-19 spikes in several states and especially the resurgence in Beijing weighed on investors minds. In China 400,000 were tested with only 437 positives but the concern centered around the fact that there were several “clusters” showing up in outlying areas and seem to be centered around a wholesale fish and meat market and imported salmon. The city alert status was raised, and all schools were closed, with officials saying that they may not be reopened until February. DJIA stocks were 22 down, 7 up and WBA unchanged. The biggest losers were BA-37, GS-24, JPM-18, and CAT & AXP-12. Only HD +6 added even a whole number with the rest up just fractions.

We had 1 carryover trade, long CVS 6/26 $64 and we sold those late in the day for a profit and the NEM 7/17 $60’s @ 1.55 that finished the day@ $1.43. I am looking for a decline to add to that position.

Our “open forum” on Discord, which allows me to interact with subscribers and others to allow direct questions and chart opinions on just about any stock, continues to grow with more participants every day. It is informative and allows me to share insights as the market is open and moving. The link is: https://discord.gg/ATvC7YZ and I will be there and active from before the open and all day. It’s a great place to share ideas and gain some insights, and we’ve grown to almost 1900 members. I also did this video titled “How to survive being an options trader and not blow up your account,” over the long weekend. I think it’s very informative as a guide to stock selection and option choices. The link is https://youtu.be/Y7H9RpWfLlo Enjoy!!

Tonight’s closing comment video https://youtu.be/yd6oIc97r_A SECTORS: We had a continuation of the selloff in CHK again today. The stock, a 1:200 reverse split that traded over $77 just 8 short days ago continued to fall today trading $12.75 and closing $13.24 -2.12 (13.8%) for an 8-day decline of 83.4% in that period. We also saw a selloff in Urban-One (UONE) which rose from $1.54 to $40 this week falling back to close $12.71 -14.48 (53.25%)…easy come, easy go! Hertz (HTZ) was back in the news today with a mid-morning trading halt “for news pending.” Later in the day the SEC said that they had informed the company that they had questions and concerns about the company issuing $500,000,000 worth of stock. The bankrupt auto rental company then cancelled the offering. More to follow, I’m sure. And, the HOMERUN OF THE DAY, was a new name, but the same story, no news but a dramatic rise. Carver Bancorp (CARV) which I reported on in this morning’s pre-open comment was trading $14.00 +12.00 managed to trade as high as $22.97 but coming back to earth and closing $8.39 +5.98 or 248.13%). No news except the trading halt, trading resumed notifications.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN was HIGHER with TSN -1.64, BGS -.02, FLO +.10, CAG +.05, MDLZ -.02, KHC +.07, CALM -.90, JJSF -1.18, SAFM +.06, LANC -.08, GO+1.28, HRL +.21, SJM +.91, PPC -.29 and PBJ $31.21 +.12 (.39%).

BIOPHARMA was HIGHER with BIIB -.66, ABBV -.34, REGN +10.20, ISRG +3.42, GILD -.64, MYL -.15, TEVA -.10, VRTX +6.32, BHC +.42, INCY +.04, ICPT +.03, LABU +.10 and IBB $134.00 +1.67 (1.26%).

CANNABIS: was LOWER with TLRY -.15, CGC -.85, CRON -.16, GWPH +.70, ACB -.11, PYX being dropped for bankruptcy, NBEV +.04, CURLF +.14, KERN -.92 and MJ $13.65 -.20 (1.44%).

DEFENSE: was LOWER with LMT -.57, GD +1.26, TXT -.39, NOC -2.45, BWXT +.30, TDY -5.88, RTX -1.12, and ITA $173.03 -2.31 (1.32%).

RETAIL was LOWER with M -.49, JWN -1.10, KSS -1.35, DDS -1.29, WMT -.58, TGT -.96, TJX -1.03, RL -1.94, UAA -.44, LULU -6.92, TPR -.69, CPRI -1.63, and XRT $42.69 -.37 (.85%).

FAANG and Big Cap: were MIXED with GOOGL +6.94, AMZN +25.57, AAPL .88, FB -.34, NFLX +12.12, NVDA +6.26, TSLA +6.93, BABA +1.38, BIDU -.78, CMG -13.60, CAT -1.61, BA -6.62, and XLK $102.30 -.21 (.20%).

FINANCIALS were LOWER with GS -3.69, JPM -3.06, BAC -.88, C -1.57, PNC -3.72, AIG -.71, AXP -1.92, V +.38 and XLF $24.12 -.42 (1.71%).

OIL, $37.96 -.42. Oil was under pressure all day with not much of a range finished the day near the lows of a short-range day. The stocks were all lower with XLE $39.59 -1.50 (3.65%).8%).

GOLD $1735.60 -.90. It was another short-range day closing in the middle of the range. The yellow metal is unchanged tonight. We bought back the 3rd and final lot of NEM @ $58.86. And, we also added a half position in NEM 7/17 60 calls @ $1.55, which closed $1.43.

BITCOIN: closed $9,325 -205. After trading another short-range day we finished mid-range and slightly higher. We added 350 shares of GBTC last Wednesday @ $10.02 to our position of 400 @ $8.06, bringing our average price to $8.97. GBTC closed $10.73 -.17 today.

Tomorrow is another day.

CAM