Taking Stock - Week of Monday, March 8, 2021

Monday, March 8, 2021

Green Arrow Up

DJI30 Index at the close   —-   31,802.44   +306.14 (+0.97%)

The Index opened at 31512, up 16, and started climbing.  It reached 32004, 5 points short of a new all-time intra-day hi at 11:00.  After drawing back about 90 points, it surged through that level and hit a new hi of 32148, up 652 at 1:15.  But it was all downhill from there, giving up more the half the gain. Not in a straight line of course; but the hard 198 point fall in the last 17 minutes was pretty direct.

This is a clearly up day, with the hi and lo up by 568 and 745 points, respectively.  These are stunning numbers that included a new intra-day hi by 138 points, but missed a new closing hi by 158. The span was 636.

What can we make of a day when the index lost 346 points in the last 2.75 hours? When the SP500 loses its entire mid-day gain to end up a half percent in the red?  And when, meanwhile, the NASDAQ spends almost the entire day in the red, losing 2.4% at the close?

This fragmentation is not comforting.  Some of the deviation results from a shift away from growth [read tech] stocks to value, and partly from large to small cap.  There has been a lot of contrary motion between the NASDAQ and the Russell, which was up a bit today.  So, it might be more or less rational.

% Changes -

DJI30  +0.97% 

SP500 -0.54%   

NASDAQ  -2.41%    

Russell 2000 +0.49% 

DJI30 Closings -

03/08/19 - 25450

03/06/20 - 25865

02/08/21 - 31386

03/08/21 - 31802

NYSE Internals - 

A/D =  1990/1274 = 1.56

A/D Vol = 1.35

New Hi/Lo = 461/15 = 30.73

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Yellow Arrow Sideways

DJI30 Index at the close   —-   31,832.74   +30.30 (+0.10%)

The index opened at 31892, up 90 points, immediately jumped up another 90, gave all of that back in the next 11 minutes, then resumed a choppy climb, hitting a peak at 32150, up 348, after 12:30. After that it drifted lower, staying above 32045 until 2:45.  Then it fell hard, and then harder, giving back every bit of it, and more, ending only 30 points above yesterday’s close, 10 points above the day’s lo, but 60 points under its opening.

Given all that, it’s still a clearly up day, with the high higher by a meager 2.28 points, and the lo higher by a more impressive 310.  The range was 328, which is pretty modest by the standards of the last couple weeks.  Further, there was a new all-time intra-day hi, by a paltry 2.28 points at the day’s peak.  Though the close missed a new hi by 129. 

After some gyrations the last several days, momentum measures are converging again, with the 5 day measure rising into the cluster.

The other indexes held onto most of their mid-day gains, and were all strongly positive, with the recently battered NASDAQ leading the way, up 3.68%!.  I suspect this is counter-current and the NASDAQ has more losses in the near future.

% Changes -

DJI30  +0.10% 

SP500 +1.42%   

NASDAQ  +3.69%    

Russell 2000 +1.91% 

DJI30 Closings -

03/06/19 - 25450

03/09/20 - 23851

02/09/21 - 31376

03/09/21 - 31833

NYSE Internals - 

A/D =  1983/1281 = 1.55

A/D Vol = 1.29

New Hi/Lo = 278/9 = 30.89

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Green Arrow Up

DJI30 Index at the close   —-   32,485.59   +188.57 (+0.58%)

The index opened at 32355, up 57 points, and immediately shot up to 32420, up 123.  After a brief draw down to 32350, it resumed climbing and reached 32527, up 230, at 10:00.  A half hour later it was rising again, reaching 32650 before 11:00.  It stayed above 32600 until just before 1:00.  It struggled to avoid falling until 2:30, then slumped for an hour and a half into the close.

For the 4th consecutive day there was a new all-time intra-day hi, this time by 272 points, and for the second day a new closing hi, by 189.  This was a clearly up day with the hi and lo higher by 272 and 439 points, respectively.  The span was 316.

Momentum has turned back up, and is approaching the level it had jut before the late January slump.

All the indexes were up today, and the late slump made the DJI the lowest gainer, while the NASDAQ gained the most.

A new Seeking Alpha article says to sell Zoom and buy two hi yielding stocks that I bought along with several others on Feb 8: PCI and XFLT.  I bought them for the fat dividends, but there have been impressive capital gains in the ensuing month.  At today’s closings, +4.71% for PCI and +11.33% for XFLT.

As it turns out, I had a Zoom meeting this evening.

% Changes -

DJI30  +0.58% 

SP500 +1.04%   

NASDAQ  +2.53.%    

Russell 2000 +2.31% 

DJI30 Closings -

03/11/19 - 25651

03/11/20 - 23553

02/10/21 - 31431

03/11/21 - 32486

NYSE Internals - 

A/D =  2427/858 = 2.83

A/D Vol = 1.95

New Hi/Lo = 511/7 = 73.0

Friday, March 12, 2021

Green Arrow Up

DJI30 at the close   —-   32,778.64   +293.05 (+0.90%)

The Index opened at 32462, off 23 points, and before 11:00 reached a hi of 32676.  It dropped to 32580 a few minutes after 11:00, and stayed between these values until about 1:30 when it broke higher, and continued rising into a new all-time intra-day hi of 37294, three minutes before the the close, which was only 15 points lower.

This is a clearly up day, with the hi and low higher by 132 and 117 points, respectively.  The spread was 331.  This also gave us new intra-day and closing highs - the 5th intra-day and the 3rd consecutive hi at the close to finish the week.

The DJI fared better than the other indexes.  The SP500 spent most of the day in the red, going slightly positive late, while the NASDAQ could not get out of the red.  The Russell 2000 snaked around neutral for most of the session, then rose in the last part of the day.

I think the rotation from growth to value is real, and from large to small caps even more so.  Since Feb.16, IVE, a SP500 value fund is up 5.73%, while IVW a SP500 growth fund is off 4.47%. And IWN, a Russell 2000 value fund is up an astonishing 11.38%, while IWO, a Russell 2000 growth fund is off 3.75%.  Value has beaten growth while small cap has crushed large cap over the period.  The DJI is a large cap blue chip index containing both growth and value stocks.  It is up 3.99% over that same span.

For the week, the DJI30 is up 4.07%.  Last Friday, it was 26 points under its 2/16 value.

A year ago the markets were all in free fall, losing ca. 35% in 35 days.  Does anybody remember?

% Changes -

DJI30  +0.90% 

SP500 +0.10%   

NASDAQ  -0.59.%    

Russell 2000 +0.61% 

DJI30 Closings -

03/12/19 - 25555

03/12/20 - 22301

02/12/21 - 31458

03/12/21 - 32779

NYSE Internals - 

A/D =  1845/1412 = 1.31

A/D Vol = 2.22

New Hi/Lo = 482/13 = 37.31