Investors are very cautious today as economic numbers released this week have not shown strong recovery. For instance, Chinese Manufacturing Services eased off last month and the US GDP data for the last quarter was also short of expectations. Having said that, the US corporate earnings were immensely strong, and so far more than 84% of the S&P 500 companies have beaten the Wall Street’s expectations. In the crypto market, we do see Bitcoin losing some of its mojo again while Ethereum continues to move higher.
Asian Markets
The Asian stock market traded mostly lower on Friday. The Shanghai index declined by 0.41%. The HSI index decreased by 1.44%, while the ASX index fell 0.74%. The Nikkei index also dropped by 0.50%.
Dow Jones and S&P 500: Market Breadth
The Dow Jones’ market breadth gained further momentum yesterday. 95% of the Dow Jones stocks traded above their 200-day moving average.
The S&P 500 stock breadth also displayed strength yesterday. 97% of the shares traded above their 200-day moving average.
Dow Jones Futures Today
The Dow Jones futures are trading lower on the final trading session of the week. In terms of economic data, investors will be looking at the Personal Income and Personal Spending numbers. The forecast for Personal Income is 20.1% vs the previous reading of -7.1% while the forecast for Personal Spending is 4.3% vs the previous reading of -1.0%.
The Dow Jones is on track to record its second consecutive week of losses and the RSI shows on the weekly time frame that the price is overbought. However, the Dow Jones futures are hovering near their record highs. The Dow’s price action still looks relatively strong on the daily time frame as the price is trading above the 50,100 and 200-day moving averages. The critical price point is the support of 3,3409 and a break of this price point means that the price may re-tests the strength of the 50-day SMA.
The near term support is at 33,074, while the resistance is at 34,157.
Stock Market Rally
The S&P 500 stock index closed higher yesterday; the index advanced by 0.68%. The consumer discretionary sector led the index higher and 10 out of 11 sectors closed lower.
The Dow index also increased yesterday; the Dow stocks moved the index higher by 0.71%. 12 shares advanced, while 18 shares closed lower.
The NASDAQ composite, a tech-savvy index, also closed sharply higher by 0.22% yesterday.
S&P 500 Leaders and Laggards: Dish Network and EBAY
Dish Network stock contributed the biggest gain, soaring 8.31%. EBAY stock was the largest drag; it fell by 10.29%. The S&P 500 stock index is up 10.84% so far this year.
Dow Jones Leaders and Laggards: Goldman Sachs and Boeing
Nike provided the biggest help for the Dow Jones; it advanced by 1.91%, while Merck and Co Inc was the greatest decliner, it fell by 4.42%.