Stocks took their cue from Treasuries and surged with gains across the board. The 20+ Year T-Bond ETF (TLT) fell sharply and the 10-year Treasury Yield ($TNX) surged as the Fed minutes revealed some dissent on the future of quantitative easing. Even though this is old news based on minutes taken in February, gold and Treasuries reacted in force. Money moving out of Treasuries found its way into the stock market and the technology sector. QQQ led with a 1.94% surge and a new high for 2013. The Technology SPDR (XLK) and the Finance SPDR (XLF) led the sectors, while five of the nine sectors surged over 1%. The Basic Materials SPDR (XLB) and the Energy SPDR (XLE) were the least strong (up less than 1%). The materials sector was hit with losses coming from the Gold Miners ETF (GDX), Metals & Mining SPDR (XME) and Steel ETF (SLX). Today is pretty big on the economic front with jobless claims and retail sales hitting at 8:30AM. Economic reports have been less than robust the last few weeks and weakness in these two reports could lead to some profit taking. XRT is certainly priced for good numbers.
**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************
Key Reports and Events (all times Eastern):
Thu - Apr 11 - 08:30 - Jobless Claims
Thu - Apr 11 - 10:30 - Natural Gas Inventories
Fri - Apr 12 - 08:30 - Retail Sales
Fri - Apr 12 - 08:30 - Producer Price Index (PPI)
Fri - Apr 12 - 09:55 - Michigan Sentiment
Fri - Apr 12 - 10:00 - Business Inventories
Charts of Interest: Tuesday and Thursday
This commentary and charts-of-interest are designed to stimulate thinking. This analysis is
not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or sell short any security (stock ETF or otherwise).
We all need to think for ourselves when it comes to trading our own accounts. First, it is
the only way to really learn. Second, we are the only ones responsible for our decisions.
Think of these charts as food for further analysis. Before making a trade, it is important
to have a plan. Plan the trade and trade the plan. Among other things, this includes setting
a trigger level, a target area and a stop-loss level. It is also important to plan for three
possible price movements: advance, decline or sideways. Have a plan for all three scenarios
BEFORE making the trade. Consider possible holding times. And finally, look at overall market
conditions and sector/industry performance.
About the author:
Arthur Hill, CMT, is the Chief Technical Strategist at TrendInvestorPro.com. Focusing predominantly on US equities and ETFs, his systematic approach of identifying trend, finding signals within the trend, and setting key price levels has made him an esteemed market technician. Arthur has written articles for numerous financial publications including Barrons and Stocks & Commodities Magazine. In addition to his Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, he holds an MBA from the Cass Business School at City University in London.
Learn More
