Happy President’s Day!

Last weekend, in my Market Forecast, I said,

"For the new week, it does not look like the market will fall too much further.  SPX 1330 could now be the support.  Nasdaq stayed above 2900 and 2860 has support.  To get a next leg up, SPX will need to break 1360.  However, tech stocks may not need to wait for the broader market.  We could see Nasdaq continue to push higher while SPX fights with 1360 for a little longer."

I also added,

"The coming week may be a volatile week, as profit-takers continue to fight with the dip-buyers.  If you have been planning a vacation, this coming week may be a good week to take it.  We will likely see a "stock-picking" market environment as the market struggles to find a direction."

Well, once again things went as forecasted.  From Monday to Thursday, the market basically didn’t go anywhere, fluctuating up and down within a tight 15-point range on the SPX.  Nasdaq, however, tried to break out on Wednesday, popping up to test 2960.  On Friday, the market pushed higher to test 1360 and managed to close above it.

We didn’t trade much for the week.  Here are the closed trades:

• 07:31 | HappyTrading SHLD ($55.00) Sold to Close 03C50 Mar 50 calls, at $7.60 +27%
• 11:05 | HappyTrading LULU ($65.65) Sold to Close 02C65 Feb 65 calls, at $1.09 -43%
• 11:26 | HappyTrading CTXS ($73.80) Sold to Close 02C72.5 Feb 73 calls, at $1.75 +17%
• 07:14 | HappyTrading CTXS ($73.85) Sold to Close 02C72.5 Feb 73 calls, at $1.75 +17%
• 09:53 | HappyTrading CLF ($71.80) Sold to Close 02C75 Feb 75 put, at $3.89 +30%

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For the week, the Dow was up +148.64 points; SPX added +18.59 points; Nasdaq gained +47.90 points.  Gold was basically flat.  But, oil turned out to be one of the bigger stories of the week, as it popped over $103/barrel (and, now trading at $105/barrel)!  Asian markets were mostly up on Monday, but are getting a little pullback tonight.  Here’s how the US market closed on Friday:

SPX

On Friday, SPX added +3.19 points to close at 1361.23, just above 1360.  The daily MAs and MACD were little changed.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq was down 8.09 points to close at 2951.78.

SPX managed to close just above 1360, while Nasdaq pushed above 2950.  VIX took a quick drop, back down to below 18.  For the new week…

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