Day Traders Diary

7/25/16

The stock market began the week on a lower note, pulling back alongside a sustained downturn in crude oil. Participants maintained a cautious posture ahead of upcoming macroeconomic events and influential earnings reports. Additional focal points impacting today's trade included softening in the dollar and weakness from the heavyweight industrial (-0.6%) sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.4%) finished behind the S&P 500 (-0.3%) and the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%).

U.S. equities began the day on a choppy note, responding to a lack of conviction in European averages. Regional bourses slipped through the session as participants favored a cautious approach ahead of July policy statements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan. The Federal Reserve is set to deliver its latest policy statement on Wednesday while the Bank of Japan is scheduled to conclude its two-day policy meeting on Friday. Additionally, the European Central Bank will release bank stress test results later in the week.

U.S. equities pulled back through the morning as oil extended an early loss. The energy component slipped from the $43.30/bbl price level at the start of the session, eventually carving out a session low ($42.98/bbl) near midday. The S&P 500 (-0.5%) moved lower lockstep with oil, finding support near the 2163/2165 price level. The broader market ticked higher in the final hour as nine sectors trimmed their losses. The commodity-sensitive energy sector (-2.0%) ended at the bottom of the leaderboard, following industrials (-0.6%), and telecom services (-0.4%).

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (-0.9%) displayed relative weakness as airline names extended their recent rout. The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS 22.42, -0.21) declined by 0.9% as JetBlue Airways (JBLU 17.28, -0.30) underperformed ahead of tomorrow morning's earnings release. Separately, Kansas City Southern (KSU 96.41, -1.43) and Canadian Pacific (CP 146.91, -2.25) weighed on the rail sub-group.

In the heavily-weighted industrial sector (-0.6%), diversified machine names underperformed. Roper (ROP 163.33, -9.98) declined by 5.8% after missing estimates and lowering its earnings guidance for the full year. Elsewhere, Dow component General Electric (GE 31.64, -0.42) extended its post-earnings decline to 2.9%.

The countercyclical health care sector (-0.1%)  finished ahead of the benchmark index as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 282.26, +1.36) extended its monthly gain to 9.7%. Gilead Sciences (GILD 88.55, +2.00) displayed relative strength ahead of this evening's earnings release. Conversely, health care servicers underperformed as Aetna (AET 117.84, -2.62) and Cigna (CI 140.21, -5.79) declined 2.2% and 4.0%, respectively.

In the technology sector (-0.2%), Yahoo! (YHOO 38.32, -1.06) finished lower by 2.7% after agreeing to sell its operating business to Verizon (VZ 55.87, -0.23) for approximately $4.83 billion in cash. Separately, Dow component Apple (AAPL 97.34, -1.32) demonstrated relative weakness after being downgraded to "Sell" from "Hold" at BGC Financial.

The U.S. Dollar Index (97.27, -0.20) ended near its session low as the yen, pound, and euro each gained against the buck. The euro/dollar pair finished higher by 0.1% (1.0991) while the dollar lost 0.3% against the yen (105.79). Separately, sterling gained 0.2% against the dollar (1.3135).

Treasuries finished on a mixed note as the yield on the 10-yr note settled unchanged at 1.57%.

Today's trading volume was below the recent average as fewer than 757 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Tomorrow's economic data will include the 9:00 ET release of the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for May (Briefing.com consensus 5.4%). Separately, Consumer Confidence for July (Briefing.com consensus 96.0) and New Home Sales for June (Briefing.com consensus 560k) will both cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Russell 2000 +6.5% YTD

Dow Jones +6.1% YTD

S&P 500 +6.1% YTD

Nasdaq Composite +1.8% YTD