TheStrategyLab.com Price Action Trading Support Forum

Trade Results of M.A. Perry
Trader and Founder of WRB Analysis (wide range body/bar analysis)
Price Action Trading (no technical indicators)

click on the above image to view today's trading summary

Trade Performance for Today: +3.60 points or $360.00 dollars in the Russell 2000 Emini TF ($TF_F) Futures.
Russell 2000 Emini TF Futures - 1 tick or 0.10 = $10.00 dollars and there's more contract information @ The ICE.
S&P 500 Emini ES Futures - 1 tick or 0.25 = $12.50 dollars and there's more contract information @ CMEGroup.

In addition, today's #FuturesTrades trading chat room logs provides details about each trade from entry to exit along with commentary as the trade traversed...all archived @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/ftchat/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=894.

Also, posted below are direct links to information about my trade methodology and trading plan (there's a difference between the two) that enables me to identify key trading areas in the price action that represent changes in supply/demand and volatility along with being able to exploit these changes via WRB Analysis (wide range body/bar analysis).

WRB Analysis Tutorials @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/WRBAnalysisTutorials.htm and there's a free study guide of the WRB Analysis Tutorial Chapters 1, 2 and 3 @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/tsl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=180.

Volatility Trading Report (VTR) @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/VolatilityTrading.htm and there's a free trade signal strategy @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/tsl/forum/viewforum.php?f=89 so that you can freely test drive one of our trade strategies with support prior to purchasing the Volatility Trading Report (VTR).

Trading Plan Daily Routine @ http://www.thestrategylab.com/tsl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=138&t=1058

-----------------------------

Market Summaries

The below summaries by Bloomberg, CNNMoney and Yahoo! Finance helps me to do a quick review of the fundamentals, FED actions, global economics that had an impact on today's price action. Simply, I'm a strong believer that many variables causes key changes in supply/demand and volatility that's arguably just as important as my technical analysis.

CNNMoney.com - Europe's Debt Hangs Over Stocks

click on the above image to view today's price action of key markets

By Ken Sweet June 13, 2011: 4:39 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks closed little changed on Monday after a downgrade of Greece's credit rating tempered earlier investor enthusiasm for a series of corporate deals.

At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 1 point, or less than 0.1%, to end at 11,953; the S&P 500 (SPX) added less than a point to close at 1,272; and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) fell 4 points, or 0.2%, to 2,640.

Stocks opened higher following a series of deals. But the gains were short lived after credit agency Standard & Poor's downgraded its rating on Greece to "CCC." S&P also kept its negative outlook on Greece.

The downgrade pressured the currency and commodity markets. Oil fell 2% to $97.30 a barrel. Silver prices slid more than 4%. And and gold dropped 1% to $1,515.60 an ounce.

Energy and material stocks were hit hard, with Cabot Oil (COG) tumbling 3.5% and Halliburton (HAL, Fortune 500) shares down more than 2%.

* S&P downgrades Greece

"A couple months ago, the market would have overlooked a Greece downgrade," said David Levy, portfolio manager with Kenjol Capital Management. "But with this negative market sentiment, it's another reason to sell."

Stocks have taken a drubbing as of late, with concerns about the economy leaving investors battered and bruised.

With no economic data on tap for Monday's session, U.S. investors focused on a series of corporate deals announced before the opening bell.

Apparel company VF Corp. (VFC, Fortune 500), the maker of Wrangler and The North Face brands, agreed to buy Timberland for $43 per share -- creating a $10 billion apparel and footwear company. Shares of Timberland (TBL) rose 44% and VF Corp.'s stock jumped 10%.

Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN) rose 1%, after the restaurant operator agreed to sell Arby's to a private equity group led by Roark Capital Group. Wendy's will retain an 18.5% ownership interest in the roast beef chain's business.

These deals were some of the first M&A activity Wall Street had seen in weeks.

"It's an emotional confirmation that businesses continue to deal despite the economy," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.

U.S. stocks tumbled Friday, with each of the three key indexes falling more than 1%, and the Dow ending below 12,000 for the first time in months.

* 9 most annoying bank fees

Companies: Sears Holdings (SHLD, Fortune 500) was the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500, rising more than 5%.

Honeywell (HON, Fortune 500) announced plans to acquire EMS Technologies (ELMG) for $491 million in cash. Honeywell shares edged higher, while EMS shares jumped 32%.

European Insurance company Allied World Assurance (AWH) agreed to buy U.S. insurance company Transatlantic Holdings (TRH) for approximately $3.2 billion in an all-stock deal. Transatlantic shares rose 10%, while Allied World shares were down 4.5%.

Shares of Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) rose 3% despite a Wall Street Journal report that said the bank waited three weeks before notifying customers of a credit card hack attack.

* Market bottom? - StockTwits

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged slightly higher Monday afternoon, pushing the yield down to 2.96% from 2.97% late Friday.

World markets: European stocks finished higher. Britain's FTSE 100 and the DAX in Germany edged up 0.2%, and France's CAC 40 added 0.1%. Europe markets were closed by the time the S&P Greece downgrade was announced.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.2% and Japan's Nikkei slumped 0.7%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.4%.

China is slated to release its latest consumer price data overnight. Investors will be looking at the report closely for any hints of a slowdown in growth.



Yahoo! Finance - Market Update

4:30 pm : Mixed action among energy, financial, and tech stocks, which are frequent drivers of broad market action, left the major equity averages to settle the trading day in underwhelming fashion after some early buying gave stocks a solid start to the session.

On the heels of their sixth straight weekly loss, stocks attracted some relief buying this morning. The bid came even though varied performances abroad made for a muddled backdrop. No domestic data were released and corporate news was mostly made up of merger and acquisition activity, which featured the purchase of Timberland (TBL 43.20, +13.21) by VF Corp (VFC 101.01, +9.21) for $43 per share, the $33 per share bid for EMS Tech (ELMG 32.80, +8.00) by Honeywell (HON 55.71, +0.18), and the joining of Gerber Scientific (GRB 10.99, +2.87) and Vector Capital in a deal that will give GRB stockholders $11 per share.

Early trade saw energy stocks move higher and financials falter, but the two sectors eventually saw their fortunes reverse. In turn, financials rallied out of the red to finish the with a 1.0% gain while energy stocks ended the day with a 1.4% loss. Energy stocks were hurt by a drop in oil prices, which were quoted 2.0% lower at $97.30 per barrel at the end of pit trade.

Tech stocks, which represent the largest sector by market weight, were quiet for the entire session. As a group, they closed unchanged for the session.

A lack of collective direction left the stock market to drift to a loss, which was stemmed only after a new three-month intraday low was set.

The dollar spent the entire day in the red, but that failed to convert participants into full-fledged buyers. In fact, the dollar's weakness seemed to be of little overall concern to the market. Even after S&P took Greece's debt rating deeper into junk territory by reducing it to CCC, the greenback was unable to overcome the euro. At the end of the trading day, the euro was quoted at $1.441, up 0.5%. More impressive is the 0.9% gain sported by the sterling pound, which was quoted at $1.637 at days end.

The mixture of slow summer trading with so few catalysts may have kept trading volume on the NYSE below 1 billion shares, but overall participation wasn't by any means paltry. In fact, participation on the Big Board took share volume above 900 million shares.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.0%), Telecom (+0.7%), Utilities (+0.4%), Health Care (+0.4%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Industrials (+0.1%)
Unchanged: Tech
Declining Issues: Consumer Discretionary (-0.2%), Materials (-0.6%), Energy (-1.4%)DJ30 +1.06 NASDAQ -4.04 NQ100 +0.1% R2K -0.3% SP400 -0.3% SP500 +0.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 940/1.86 bln/1673 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1373/908 mln/1706

3:30 pm : The S&P downgrade of Greece, to 'CCC,' sent the dollar index back towards the flat line today, and that rally weighed on select commodities. August gold, which finished lower by 0.9% to $1516.00 per ounce, fell to its lowest levels since May 23 at $1511.40. July silver closed off 4.1% to $34.85 per ounce. Its session lows, at $34.55, mark its worst levels since May 23 as well. Both metals are rebounding off those levels, in electronic trade, aided by a pullback in the dollar index.

July crude oil finished lower by 2% to $97.30 per barrel. Crude oil also sold off on the back of the rebounding dollar. However, after notching lows at $96.13, it was able to bounce and close above the $97 level. It was a quiet session for July natural gas, which shed 2.3% to end at $4.65 per MMBtu. DJ30 +23.77 NASDAQ +2.25 SP500 +3.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1108/1.4 bln/1524 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1510/649.0 mln/1556

3:00 pm : Stocks head into the final hour of trade clinging to modest gains. The effort has come amid mixed underlying action in that typical drivers financials (+1.0%), energy (-1.2%), and tech (+0.2%) are all varied in their direction.

With the summer season at hand and news flow so slow, participation has been paltry today. With only 60 minutes remaining before the toll of the closing bell, barely a half billion shares have traded hands on the NYSE. DJ30 +17.18 NASDAQ +0.98 SP500 +2.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1080/1.32 bln/1537 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1501/545 mln/1562

2:30 pm : Most stocks have struggled to extend their recent rebound. As a result, the major equity averages are stuck trading with only mild gains. However, bank stocks have managed to bounce to their best levels of the day. In turn, the KBW Bank Index is up 1.0% after it had slipped to a modest loss in the early going.DJ30 +32.92 NASDAQ +3.72 SP500 +3.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1106/1.20 bln/1510 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1516/505 mln/1532

2:00 pm : Stocks have extended their recent rebound to their best levels in about three hours. Financials have been a source of leadership in recent action. The sector is now up 1.0%, which makes it the best performing sector in the S&P 500. Energy stocks are off of their sesson lows, but the sector continues to be a drag as it grapples with a 1.0% loss.

As an aside, the dollar has retraced its recent upturn so that it is now down 0.3% against a collection of competing currencies, like the pound and the euro, which are up 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. DJ30 +36.58 NASDAQ +5.69 SP500 +4.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1164/1.10 mln/1451 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1576/450 mln/1457

1:30 pm : The three major equity averages recently came in contact with the lows of this past Friday, but they have since managed to make a modest bounce off of those levels. Overall action remains mixed, however.

Treasuries have managed to rally to a modest gain in recent action. Early selling in the space sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note back up to 3.00%, but the Note's yield has since shed a few basis points so that it now stands at 2.95%. DJ30 +5.19 NASDAQ -5.99 SP500 -0.90 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 952/1.00 bln/1639 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1264/400 mln/1755

1:00 pm : A modest bit of relief buying helped stocks start this session on a strong note, but the lack of underlying conviction has allowed stocks to slide lower so that the major equity averages are now mixed at midsession.

Broad market strength was relatively broad in the early going, but energy stocks displayed some of the best gains. The sector's early rise flew in the face of lower oil prices, which have since dropped to a 2.0% loss at $97.20 per barrel. Energy stocks have also taken a dive; they now trade with a 1.7% loss, which is double the loss of the next worst performing sector (materials, -0.8%).

Financials have had more success in their fight against sellers. The sector forfeited an early gain by dropping to the flat line, but they were able to bounce off of that mark back to a solid 0.4% gain.

Health care actually represents this session's best performing sector. As a group, health care stocks are up 0.6%. Dow components Pfizer (PFE 20.44, +0.33) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 66.73, +0.64) are leaders in the space.

Today's top individual performers have been helped higher by a flurry of deal making. Timberland (TBL 42.77, +12.78) is up 40%, but still shy of its 52-week high, following news that VF Corp (VFC 101.60, +9.80) will purchase the company for $43 per share. EMS Tech (ELMG 32.87, +8.07) is up more than 30% to a new record high after it was announced that Honeywell (HON 55.44, -0.09) will acquire the company for $33 per share. Gerber Scientific (GRB 11.02, +2.90) has surged to its highest level in almost three years on news that it will merge with Vector Capital in a deal that will give stockholders $11 per share.DJ30 -9.91 NASDAQ -8.45 SP500 -2.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 864/900 mln/1731 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1127/360 mln/1873

12:30 pm : The stock market has extended its downturn so that both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are now in negative territory. The Dow is clinging to a fractional gain.

Amid the stock market's pullback, the dollar has turned upward so that it now trails a basket of major foreign currencies by just 0.1%. The greenback continues to trail Britain's sterling pound by a considerable 0.4%, however; the pound was last priced at $1.630. DJ30 +4.20 NASDAQ -7.50 SP500 -1.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 869/785 mln/1706 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1233/310 mln/1758

12:00 pm : After an attempt to stabilize, stocks have gone on the backslide. That has left all three of the major equity averages to trade at new session lows.

Energy stocks have been a heavy drag on recent trade. The sector, which was up markedly in the early going, is now down to a 0.9% loss. Chesapeake Energy (CHK 28.57, -0.67) is one of the worst performers in the energy space; the stock's slide comes despite the company's decision to hike its dividend by 17%.DJ30 +6.43 NASDAQ -4.27 SP500 +0.16 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 991/675 mln/1570 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1389/265 mln/1572

11:30 am : The Nasdaq recently retreated to the neutral line, but it has since bounced off of that mark so that it now trades with a narrow gain. The Nasdaq's recent bounce has been led by the likes of Microsoft (MSFT 23.95, +0.25), Dell (DELL 15.63, +0.16), and Oracle (ORCL 31.56, +0.38). In contrast, Akamai (AKAM 29.13, -0.32) is a source of weakness; the stock's descent in recent weeks has left it to test its 52-week low.DJ30 +31.71 NASDAQ +4.20 SP500 +3.44 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1065/564 mln/1458 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1279/222 mln/1602

11:00 am : Recent selling pressure has caused the major equity averages to pull back. The broad market downturn comes as energy stocks retreat to a 0.3% loss after the sector had displayed leadership in the early going. Financial stocks had actually encountered some selling that caused the sector to surrender an early gain and then trade at the flat line, but it has since managed to rebound to a 0.5% gain.

Relative strength in the financial sector comes as a broad range of players sport strong gains. Morgan Stanley (MS 23.05, +0.36), Citigroup (C 38.40, +0.48), Blackrock (BLK 187.38, +1.56), and Wells Fargo (WFC 26.61, +0.34) are leaders in the sector. DJ30 +28.80 NASDAQ +2.36 SP500 +2.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1166/445 mln/1334 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1615/173 mln/1306

10:35 am : Energy markets are mixed this morning, gold is back near the flat line, while silver is showing sharp losses. The dollar index is down 0.4% and is providing a boost to only select commodities.

Crude oil has been in negative territory all morning and fell to session lows of $97.81/barrel earlier this morning. It has since recovered about half of its losses and is now down 0.6% at $98.68/barrel.

Nat gas was trading just modestly higher in the overnight session, but about an hour before today's pit trading session, the energy component lost steam and began a downtrend. Natural gas hit session lows of $4.63 about 20 minutes ago and is now 2.2% lower at $2.65/MMBtu.

Gold fell back in the red minutes ago after a brief moment trading in positive territory. Gold is now down 0.2% at $1526.60/oz. Silver has been notably lower all morning and in current trade, the precious metals is 2.1% lower at $35.56/oz.
DJ30 +45.87 NASDAQ +9.90 SP500 +3.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1358/379.2 mln/1076 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1739/717.7 mln/1153

10:00 am : Stocks made a momentary pullback after staging an early sprint higher, but they have since regrouped so that the major equity averages are back at their morning highs.

Consumer staples stocks continue to trail, though. The sector has been mired near the neutral line amid weakness in Molson Coors (TAP 43.60, -0.62) and Philip Morris International (PM 66.95, -0.40). Meanwhile, the ultra defensive-oriented utilties sector is down with a 0.1% loss as the likes of Exelon (EXC 41.71, -0.15) and Constellation Energy (CEG 36.63, -0.14) come under pressure. DJ30 +58.43 NASDAQ +13.42 SP500 +5.82 NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1483/852 NYSE Adv/Dec 1900/912

09:45 am : Stocks are up solidly in the first few minutes of trade. Buying interest is relatively broad, but energy (+0.8%), industrials (+0.7%), and materials (+0.6%) are garnering the most interest. Utilities (-0.1%) and consumer staples stocks (unch.), both defensive oriented, are struggling to establish any upward momentum this morning.

Outside of equities, Treasuries are under pressure. As such, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note is back at 3.00%. The TED spread is currently just shy of 0.2.

Meanwhile, the dollar continues to drift along with a 0.3% loss against a collection of competing currencies. DJ30 +55.48 NASDAQ +13.71 SP500 +5.99 NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1597/720 NYSE Adv/Dec 1991/774

09:15 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +3.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +6.60. Stock futures have improved their position during the course of the past hour. In turn, a solid start to the new week appears to be in order. Support comes without any major headline or collection of catalysts, so it will be interesting to see whether or not stocks can sustain the bid and build on the relief buying. Action abroad has been mostly mixed in the first session of the new week; that has made for a rather muddled backdrop. Meanwhile, the dollar is down modestly against a basket of major foreign currencies. Despite the dollar's decline, most commodities have encountered selling pressure in early pit trade. Corporate news flow has been slow this morning, although there have been a handful of deals. Among them, Timberland (TBL) will be purchased by VF Corp (VFC) for $43 per share, which makes for a premium of more than 40% over TBL's closing price from last week. EMS Tech (ELMG) will be acquired by Honeywell (HON) for $33 per share, which makes for a premium of more than 30% over ELMG's closing price from last week. Gerber Scientific (GRB) has confirmed that it will merge with Vector Capital; shareholders of GBS will receive $11 per share, a premium of about 35% over the stock's closing price from last week, plus rights to certain contingent cash payments.

09:05 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +4.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +7.60. Commodities are generally weak this morning. That has the CRB Commodity Index down about 0.2%. Crude oil has been the heaviest drag on the CRB; oil prices were last quoted with a 0.4% loss at $98.90 per barrel. Natural gas prices are down an even deeper 1.0% at $4.71 per MMBtu. As for precious metals, gold prices are currently up with a fractional gain at $1531 per ounce. Silver prices are down 1.3% to $35.83 per ounce. Weakness in the commodity complex comes despite a 0.3% decline by the dollar against a collection of competing currencies.

08:30 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +4.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +7.80. Overall action abroad has been mixed in the first session of the new week. Germany's DAX is up 0.1% at the moment. Adidas and Deutsche Telekom are providing support, but automakers Daimler AG and BMW have been drags. France's CAC is currently up a tepid 0.3%, even though advancing issues outnumber decliners by a wide margin. Peugeot and Publicis Groupe have been primary leaders. Renault is under considerable pressure, though. In Britain, the FTSE is presently up 0.3%. Banking issues like Lloyds Group (LYG) and Barclays (BCS) have buoyed the broader market, but energy plays BP Plc (BP) and Tullow Oil have dragged on trade.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei booked a 0.7% loss in its opening session of the week. Relatively broad pressure drove the downturn, but Japan Steel, Honda Motor (HMC), Toyota Motor (TM), and KDDI Corp were among those that were hit the hardest. Shares of the highly volatile Tokyo Electric Power rallied higher, however. The country's latest dose of data indicated that machine tool orders fell during April by 3.3%, which contrasts with the 1.0% increase that had been experienced in the prior month. Hong Kong's Hang Seng put together a 0.4% gain in overnight trade, but mainland China's Shanghai Composite closed with a 0.2% loss. The country announced that new loans issued during May were down by about 25% from the prior month, but a major announcement for the week will come when the country posts its latest consumer inflationary reading tomorrow.

08:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +1.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +3.30. The stock market is coming off of its sixth straight weekly loss and the Nasdaq is now negative for the year, but only a modicum of relief buying has been displayed this morning. The narrow lead that stock futures currently hold over fair value comes amid mixed action abroad and a moderately weaker dollar. Other trading catalysts are limited this morning, given the dearth of corporate events in the news. There isn't any domestic data on tap for today either.

06:45 am : [BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +1.80. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +2.60.

06:45 am : Nikkei...9448.21...-66.20...-0.70%. Hang Seng...22508.08...+87.70...+0.40%.

06:45 am : FTSE...5779.22...+13.40...+0.20%. DAX...7065.62...-4.30...-0.10%.

Special thanks to Bloomberg, CNNMoney and Yahoo! Finance for their market summaries.

Best Regards,
M.A. Perry
Trader and Founder of WRB Analysis (wide range body/bar analysis)
Price Action Trading (no technical indicators)
@ http://twitter.com/wrbtrader and http://stocktwits.com/wrbtrader

Phone: +1.708.572.4885
Business Hours: 8am - 5pm est (Mon - Fri)
Skype Messenger: kebec2002
questions@thestrategylab.com
Go Back To TheStrategyLab.com Homepage