US Indices on Thursday's close: SPX: (+0.76%), NDX: (+0.75%), Dow: (+0.67%) and RUT: (+0.86%)
Materials, Industrials and Energy led a uniformly green tape to the upside.
NFLX is waffling in after-hours trade, post earnings, but the rest of FAANG is doing ok. Philadelphia Fed Index gave an upside surprise before the open, giving the highest reading in half a year.
The reaction to the 'rumor' on trade war tactics resulted in a big jump and subsequent pullback on official refutations but the net takeaway for some is that the market was already poised to go through near term resistance and, more importantly, that the trade war is holding back a market that has priced in many things already.
ES SPX futures closed at 2634.75 after making an RTH session high of 2545.50 and leaving a point of control at 2621.75. The contract closed the after-hours session at 2638.25 despite some mixed earnings. The SPX closed over its 50 day moving average at 2635.96.
Market Internals
NYSE A-D lines: +1227. NYSE breadth: +2.69:1 and NASD breadth: +3.21:1. NYSE cumulative TICK: very strong at the close. TRIN: .91 -- buying pressure. NYSE MOC: a buy of over +1.1B at the reveal which dwindled in the last several minutes of trading to -25M. Health Care and Consumer Services led that buying and Public Utilities led the selling.
SPX volume: 2.451B. SPX composite volume: +1.79%. NYSE composite volume: -2.03% and NYSE total volume: +5.90%. Implied Volatility: VIX: 18.06 or -5.15%, VXG19: 18.60 or+0.40% and VXH19: 18.85 or+0.40%.
Debt Treasuries were initially mixed but fell back again with the long bond the lone standout. The 2-year (+2 bps to 2.56%) to 10-year (+2 bps to 2.25%) spread is again at 19 bps while the 2-year to 30-year (Unchanged at 3.08%) spread has come in to 52 bps.
Incoming On Friday we have Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization before the bell at 09:15 ET. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Preliminary is out at 10:00 ET.
Comment
@Dazedandconfused, I like your analysis...partly because although the WSJ editorial board supports the economic reforms of the administration, they are also pro free trade, even as they take issue with the theft of intellectual property. As for this particular news, they hire very able reporters with source networks that would make some public servants blush. I would offer that while reporters often get things mixed up when dealing with extremely secured foreign policy issues, the current administration is staffed with a level of expertise that can only be adequately described in an off-thread opinion. They cannot compete with reporters that compensate for their lack of security clearances with some of the best sourcing and fact-checking in the world. In short, this particular administration has met its match with the free press. Their only recourse is to proclaim most reporting as 'fake news' or decry leaks. As for this particular subject, it is possible that the typical interplay between government and the press is being used in a novel way -- one that supports your notions vis the state of the would-be trade war.
@ammie, my understanding is that the PBOC liquidity injection of CNY560B on Tuesday night/Wednesday was unprecedented.
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