Stocks managed a positive session to start off the week, but things were looking a whole lot better earlier in the day.
Reassured by a softer tone on trade from President Trump, the major indices took off right at the open and seemed on their way to a strong finish. Then came news that the President’s lawyer was raided by the FBI.
Each of the indices had advanced by about 2% at their highs of the day but would have to settle for much less by the closing bell. The NASDAQ registered the best performance thanks to a strong showing from tech; it increased 0.51% to 6950.3. The S&P was up 0.33% to 2613.2, while the Dow inched forward by 0.19% to 23,979.1.
So the market has a brand new piece of uncertainty to deal with, which goes along with fears of a trade war, technology pressures and rising rates. But the one thing that we can be certain of is that earnings season is about to start…and the editors can’t wait. It’s expected to be a good one and might help get the market back on a roll if nothing else pops up to derail it.
“It would be nice to move on from Washington headlines and do what we do best in picking stocks, but I think that is a way away. Earnings are coming up quickly, so that could switch focus of market participants. This Friday we will see a handful of financials report, including JPM, WFC and C,”said Jeremy Mullin in Counterstrike.
The Black Box Traderswapped out six positions in this week’s adjustment, and five of the sold stocks were positive. Learn about all the moves in the highlights section below along with some other analysis.
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Black Box Trader:The portfolio replaced six names this week and five of them were positive. The stocks that left the portfolio today include: