Day Traders Diary

11/20/15

The stock market ended an upbeat week on a higher note with the bulk of today's action taking place during the opening hour. The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, ending the week higher by 3.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%) outperformed, boosting its weekly gain to 3.6%.

Equity indices rocketed out of the gate, marking their best levels of the day about 45 minutes after the opening bell. The S&P 500 set a session high just above the 2,097 level and spent the remainder of the trading day in a slow retreat from that perch.

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.2%) displayed strength from the start while five other sectors also finished in the green. As for the discretionary space, the group extended its weekly gain to 4.5%, ending atop this week's leaderboard. Apparel names were largely responsible for the strength with Dow component Nike (NKE 132.65, +6.87) soaring 5.5% after announcing a new $12 billion share repurchase program and boosting its quarterly dividend by four cents to $0.32/share. In addition, the industry giant announced its stock will undergo a two-for-one split.

Staying in the discretionary sector, another apparel stock—Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF 24.37, +4.88)—soared 25.0% after beating earnings and revenue estimates while the broader SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.16, +0.88) spiked 2.0%.

The strong showing from retailers overshadowed a 12.3% plunge in the shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 536.19, -75.32), which unfolded after the Center for Disease Control published a report detailing new E. coli cases at CMG restaurants in six states.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials (+0.6%) and technology (+0.9%) also settled ahead of the broader market while energy (-1.0%) and materials (-0.3%) could not stay out of the red. Interestingly, the energy sector finished at the bottom of the leaderboard even though crude oil overcame intraday weakness to end the pit session higher by 0.3% at $41.90/bbl.

Moving to the countercyclical side, consumer staples (-0.7%) and telecom services (-0.5%) retreated during the afternoon while utilities (+0.5%) and health care (+0.7%) settled in the green. The health care sector fared better than the biotech group as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 333.49, +0.07) settled flat.

Treasuries held modest gains through the bulk of the session but they dipped in the afternoon with the 10-yr yield ending higher by a basis point at 2.26%.

Today's participation was ahead of average with the final tally receiving a healthy boost thanks to options expiration. As a result, more than 950 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Investors did not receive any economic data today and Monday's economic news will be limited to the October Existing Home Sales report (Briefing.com consensus 5.50 million), which will be released at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +7.8% YTD

S&P 500 +1.5% YTD

Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.0% YTD

Russell 2000 -2.4% YTD

Week in Review: Stocks March Higher