Index Futures Net Changes and Settlements:

Contract Settlement Net Change +/-%
S&P 500 (ESU18:CME) 2788.50 +9.50 +0.34%
DowJones (YMU18:CBT) 25,210 +0 +0.007%
Nasdaq 100 (NQU18:CME) 7311.25 +80.25 +1.09%
Russell 2000 (RTYU:CME) 1691.30 +10.60 +0.62%

Foreign Markets, Fair Value and Volume:

  • In Asia 9 out of 11 markets closed lower: Shanghai Comp -0.70%, Hang Seng -0.4.3%, Nikkei +0.50%
  • In Europe 12 out of 13 markets are trading lower: CAC +0.23%, DAX -0.22%, FTSE -0.73%
  • Fair Value: S&P +4.90, NASDAQ +29.57, Dow +23.01
  • Total Volume: 1.25mil ESU & 1,005 SPU traded in the pit

Today’s Economic Calendar:

Today’s economic calendar includes the June Quadruple Witching, Empire State Mfg Survey 8:30 AM ET, Industrial Production 9:15 AM ET, Consumer Sentiment 10:00 AM ET, Baker-Hughes Rig Count 1:00 PM ET, Robert Kaplan Speaks 1:30 PM ET, and Treasury International Capital 4:00 PM ET.


S&P 500 Futures: #ES Up, Down And All Around As NY Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Trump Foundation

Thursday’s trade started with the Asian markets down across the board and the Stoxx 600 up +0.71% at midday. In the U.S., on Globex, the S&P 500 futures trading range was 2772.25 to 2790.75, with 230.000 contracts traded.

On the 8:30 open the first print in the ES was 2790.00, and then back and filled for the first half hour. An early high was made at 2792.00, followed by an early low at 2786.25, and then a move up to 2794.00. The real meat and potatoes was in the NQ, which dropped 25 points down to 2764.00 at 8:55, and then exploded up to 7310.00 at 9.27.

After a slight pullback this headline hit the tape : “New York AG files lawsuit against Pres Trump, Trump family members, and Donald J. Trump Foundation on accusations of violating New York state charities law” – press – AG Underwood says she aims to dissolve the Trump Foundation, and soon after the ES sold off down to 2781.00 at 10:00. At 10:55, the futures traded back up to 2789.75, and then down to 2784.50 as the NQ pulled back slightly. The next move in the ES was back up to 2791.00 as the NQ shot up to new highs up to 7321.00.

As the afternoon continued, that 2791.00 print ended up being the late high as the ES traded lower, down to 2783.00, just after 2:00 pm. The final hour saw the futures rise back up to 2790 as the MiM was showing moderate buy side on the MOC. The ES printed 2787.75 on the 3:00 pm cash close before settling the day at 2788.75, up +9.75 handles, or +0.35%.

In the end, the Nasdaq is driving everything higher. The PitBull said the whole rally is being driven by 6 to 8 stocks. I am sure FAANG makes up five of the eight. The way I see this is to just continue to buy the weakness. In terms of the ES’s overall tone, as long as the NQ keeps going up, so will the ES. In terms of the days overall trade, volume was a little lower than Wednesday.


NASDAQ’s Best Eight Months Update & Basket of Defensive Stocks

From Stock Traders Almanac:

As of the market’s close yesterday, the slower moving MACD indicator applied to NASDAQ remains positive. NASDAQ’s strong momentum has led to a string of new all-time highs and correlating positions still held in the ETF Portfolio continue to perform. With NASDAQ’s gain today, a one-day decline of over 2.3% (179.36 points) would be needed to turn NASDAQ’s MACD Sell indicator negative.

When NASDAQ’s MACD Sell indicator becomes negative, we will issue our NASDAQ Seasonal MACD Sell signal and begin clearing out remaining technology and small-cap positions held in the Almanac Investor ETF Portfolio. We will also review current holdings in the Stock Portfolio and take action where needed.
Defensive Stocks for the “Worst Months”
These 21 stocks were selected from the top performing sectors for the “Worst Six Months.” The sectors we focused upon were Healthcare, Information Technology, Consumer Staples and Utilities. Due to their defensive nature and interest rate sensitivity, many consumer staples and utilities stocks are currently not in favor and many do not exhibit the technical strength we frequently require. But, this also means many of these stocks are not trading at 52-week or all-time highs and have more attractive valuations than other corners of the market. In a bid to potentially further reduce risk; this basket is comprised mostly of large-cap stocks with valuations in excess of $5 billion. Only four mid-cap trade ideas survived the screening process.
We first sifted through the universe of nearly 8,000 U.S. traded stocks for those with a market cap of at least $1 billion and average daily volume of 100,000 shares or more on average over the past twenty trading sessions. Then we winnowed the list down to only those stocks with relatively low price-to-sales and price-to-earnings ratios. From there we searched for stocks that were exhibiting consistent and/or growing revenue and earnings trends.
We then dug into numerous individual company charts before settling on these final 21 stocks. Our underlying theme was to find reasonably priced stocks within the four sectors that have exhibited the most consistent returns during the “Worst Six Months.” Yields for this basket of stocks range from a low of 1.75% byChurch & Dwight (CHD) to a high of 5.48% by Southern Co (SO). The entire basket average yield is 2.81%.
We will look to add these 21 stocks, in the table below, near current levels. We will allocate a hypothetical $2000 from the cash position in the portfolio to each position. For each stock we have provided the ticker, name, sector, PE, price-to-sales ratio, market value, a dividend yield and a suggested buy limit and stop loss.
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As always, please use protective buy and sell stops when trading futures and options.

Disclaimer: Trading Futures, Options on Futures, and retail off-exchange foreign currency transactions involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge, and financial resources. Any decision to purchase or sell as a result of the opinions expressed in the forum will be the full responsibility of the person(s) authorizing such transaction(s). BE ADVISED TO ALWAYS USE PROTECTIVE STOP LOSSES AND ALLOW FOR SLIPPAGE TO MANAGE YOUR TRADE(S) AS AN INVESTOR COULD LOSE ALL OR MORE THAN THEIR INITIAL INVESTMENT. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS.

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