Stock Market Today
Dow Jones Industrial Average
N/A: dji
Jun 19 01:50 PM
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Last price15,300.53Prev Close15,318.20
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Change-17.67% Change-0.1%
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Open15,186.30Volume1,174,784,894
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Day Low15,279.76Day High15,318.08
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Bid15,302.26Ask15,298.57
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52 Wk Low12,938.1052 Wk High15,409.40
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Market Cap0ExchangeN/A
Today
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Stock Market Today Reflects Strong Reliance on FOMC Meeting
The stock market today opened on an optimistic note as worries abate about the Fed indicating an end to quantitative easing after this week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 172.02, or 1.14%, at 15,242.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index soared 16.43, or 1.01%, at 1,643.16. The Nasdaq jumped 40.11, or 1.17%, at 3,463.67.
The stock market fell sharply Friday, logging its third weekly loss in the past four weeks. Investors were jittery ahead of this week's Fed meeting. The Dow experienced its fourth straight triple-digit move, ending a volatile week down 1.2%.
The S&P, one day after enjoying its best session since Jan. 2, gave back 9.63 points, or 0.6%. For the week, the S&P retreated 1% and the Nasdaq lost 21.81, or 0.6%.
"Markets are more fragile now, whereas they had been bulletproof by the bulls for the last six months," Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading told CNBC. "Unfortunately, the only thing that everyone cares about is what the Fed's doing and that's troubling, when we should be looking at economic data, fundamentals and corporate profits...There are still warning signs being flagged right now and people are getting concerned.
Monday, investors appeared to be betting the Fed will stand pat.
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Stock Market Today: Is the End of the Winning Streak the Start of Something Big?
All good things must come to an end...
A winning investment strategy since the start of the year has been to buy the dips. But that tactic may be changing in the stock market today.
In another rollercoaster session on Wednesday, U.S. equities fell as investors prolonged a recent selloff spurred by the unwinding of bullish bets.
In all, the Dow experienced a triple digit swing Wednesday, an occurrence that has happened twice in the last three week versus only once in 2012.
Meanwhile, the S&P shed 13.61, or 13.61, to 1,612.52, and the Nasdaq was nudged lower by 36.52, or 1.06% to log benchmark's third down day-the worst losing streak of the year.
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How the Stock Market Today is Following Up Friday's Big Rally
Investors took a breather in the stock market today after driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average 207.5 points higher on Friday.
Just before noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.26, or 0.01%, to 15,249.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.10 to 1,644.48. The Nasdaq tacked on 9.19 to hit 3,478.41
Friday saw the Dow's second-biggest gain of 2013, after investors cheered a "Goldilocks" jobs report: not too hot, not too cold. For the week, the Dow added 132.55 points, or 0.88%.
There was plenty of news to sway the stock market today despite its muted open.
The world's largest credit rating agency Standard & Poor's boosted its credit outlook for the United States to "stable" from "negative" and reduced the threat of further downgrades.
Citing receding fiscal risks, S&P said the chance of a ratings downgrade is now "less than one in three."
"It was a quite shocking event for the markets when the U.S. was downgraded to negative, so to have that rating repaired is meaningful," Lawrence Creaturea, a Rochester, NY-based manager at Federated Investors Inc. told Bloomberg News. "Economic data has been improving gradually and S&P's upgrade is a recognition of that."
Overseas news was mixed.
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Stocks to Buy Now: Two Companies with Strong Insider Buying
Tracking insider buying and selling activity has been proven to be a very effective method of finding good stocks to buy.
Insiders usually buy when the stock price is down, since they are usually long-term investors by nature and are fond of bargain prices.
When they are buying into shares on the rise - especially when they're hitting 52-week highs - it demonstrates a high amount of confidence in the direction of the company they oversee and operate.
All insider activity is filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, so interested investors can easily find out which stocks insiders love - and which ones they're dumping.
Tracking activity can be done using a stock screener like finviz.com, that lists the stock, the buyer's name, relationship to the company, date of sale, number of shares and total value.
A couple weeks ago we noted that Walter Energy Inc. (NYSE: WLT), Key Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: KEG) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) all showed signs of high insider buying this year.
This week we have a couple more stocks hitting our radar with high insider buying, making good stocks to buy now if you like to invest where the key officers put their money. Take a look.
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Shah Gilani: "You've Got To Be In It To Win It"
Appearing on Fox Business, Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani engaged in the age old debate: Bullish or bearish?
Shah made the bullish case, saying the stock market's rising and investors may want to jump in.
"I think you got to be in it to win it," Gilani said. "You got to stay in the market as long as the trend is up."
On the other side was Dan Shaffer of Shaffer Asset Management. He had a decidedly bearish view, warning of a "deflationary depression"
Check out the lively debate between Gilani and Shaffer in the accompanying video.
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Why You Can't Afford to Ignore the Hindenburg Omen
The Hindenburg Omen-a harbinger of stock market crashes-eerily appeared again last week...and the Dow Jones promptly dropped 205 points. But its appearance brought mostly scorn from the mainstream financial media.
Here are just a few of the headlines from the past week:
- "Hindenburg Omen is Just Hot Air"
- "Why 'Hindenburg Omen' Is Just a Superstition"
- "Hindenburg Omen is idiotic, and if you believe in it, you should lose your right to own stocks-or anything"
"Let's not mince words on this subject: This is an example of the worst kind of 'technical analysis' - a market signal essentially designated for media sound bites," Adam Grimes, chief investment officer at Waverly Advisors., told The Wall Street Journal. "The markets may well decline from this point, but they will not do so because of some cleverly named signal. The Hindenburg Omen, we have to say, is mostly hot air."
Nonbelievers in the Hindenburg Omen say it correctly predicts a stock market crash only 25% of the time, and point out the last time it appeared, in 2010, the markets just kept on rising.
"In 2010 the accuracy of the 'Hindenburg Omen' indicator went up in flames and the current situation suggests the same result in 2013," huffed Daryl Guppy on the CNBC Web site.
Yet an appearance by the Hindenburg Omen has preceded every stock market crash but one since 1985, and if you look closely at the numbers this indicator's track record is remarkably accurate.
Maybe the doubters don't know as much as they think they do.
"They call it bogus because they don't understand it," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, who called the Hindenburg Omen one of his favorite indicators.
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Margin Buying Surpasses 2007 Danger Levels – Is Another Market Crash Coming?
There's nothing like buying securities with money you don't have - or, more precisely, with borrowed money from your broker, with your investments as collateral.
It's called buying on margin, and it's soaring as the market continues its tear and speculative investors seek a piece of the action. As your stocks appreciate you can borrow even more. A market rally lets you expand your portfolio by piling on more debt.
But it's potentially dangerous and could portend a stock market crash.
As the accompanying chart shows, historically there has been a direct link between a surge in margin loans and corresponding stock market peaks - followed by sharp declines in the markets.
So it's no small matter of concern that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority reports the amount owed on loans secured by investments climbed to a record high $384 billion at the end of April.
That topped the previous high - $381 billion in 2007, not coincidentally, just before the financial meltdown and the Great Recession.
As a percentage of the economy, the latest margin borrowing totaled 2.71% of gross domestic product.
By comparison, margin borrowing hit 2.73% of GDP in July 2007, during the housing bubble, and 2.81% in March 2000 during the tech bubble, which was followed by a stock market crash.
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Why I'm Calling a Market Top
Party like it's 1999.
I'm not talking about celebrating the new millennium all over again. I'm talking about celebrating the markets roaring ahead, like they did in 1999.
Just remember: There will be a price to pay. There was then, and there will be again.
Look what happened on Monday morning. We got some weaker-than-expected economic numbers and the Dow cut its gains in half... for about a minute.
Then it was like, oh, wait a minute, those bad numbers are good numbers for the stock market, because the Federal Reserve won't be tapering any time soon if the economy is tapering. And the Dow roared up by about 65 points... in about a minute.
So go ahead and party like it's 1999. But if you get hammered by the coming crash, you've got no one to blame but yourself. And it is coming.
We've all been here before. This time it just looks different, but it ain't.
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Stock Market Today: June off to a Guarded Start
The first trading day of June got off to a muted start at the opening of the stock market today.
Shortly before noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 34.66, or 0.23%, to 15,150.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 6.42, or 0.39%, to 1,624,32. The Nasdaq gave back 33.87, or 0.98%, to hit 3,422.04.
Market participants were hoping for a rebound in today's stock market following Friday's steep sell-off.
Jitters over tumbling Japanese stocks and worries about the Fed winding down its market-supportive bond-buying program sent stocks spiraling Friday, the last trading day of May.
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How to Find Stock Market Crash Protection for Your Portfolio
Thanks to billions of dollars in quantitative easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve, fears over a looming stock market crash have been put on hold lately.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index is up 16% this year. The market's outstanding performance has shrugged off weak earnings reports, slowing growth in China, and continued weakness in Europe.
It seems that zero interest rates really do trump all. Even Warren Buffett is unsure how all this ends, telling shareholders at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) annual meeting "it's really uncharted territory. It's a lot easier to buy things sometimes than it is to sell them."
And I recently heard legendary real estate investors who at a conference compared the market to a game of musical chairs where everyone keeps playing because the music - QE - is still going.
