9:05am (EST)
Keep on rocking us, baby.
Well, we aren’t superstitious, and we don’t get suspicious, and yes, the bulls are a friend of ours…
The Dow gained 55 points, or 0.5%, and settled at 11,533. The index hit a fresh two-year high of 11,549 and closed above the 11,500 level, finally, after 7 straight sessions of trading above it intra-day. We are expecting a run up to 11,700.
The S&P 500 added nearly 8 points, or 0.6%, and finished at 1,254. We said yesterday a break and close above 1,250 would be bullish. The index touched a high of 1,255 and we are looking for a run up to 1,275 by the end of next week.
The Nasdaq also came through for us as it broke 2,660 and closed at 2,667, up 18 points, or 0.7%. The index tapped 2,669 and is at its highest levels in 3 years and the bulls will now focus on a break above 2,700 which should be a breeze.
In earnings news, Nike (NKE, $92.30, up $2.03) beat the Street which we all knew would happen but they warned of lower profit margins in the quarters ahead and shares got whacked. We felt the company could say something disappointing as far as their outlook and we mentioned this in our training video that we released Sunday night that a bullish trade looked like “a setup”.
Nike posted earnings of $457 million, or $0.94 a share, versus $375 million, or $0.76 a share, in the year ago period. Revenue came in at $4.8 billion, up from $4.4 billion. Wall Street was looking for $0.88 a share, on sales of $4.8 billion.
The company’s CEO said “as supply and demand find a new normal in the recovering economy, our industry is going to experience margin pressure due to rising input costs”. That was enough to bring the bears out and they pushed shares down to $87, or 6% lower in after-hours trading last night.
As we head to press, futures are showing a flat open but are slightly positive.
]]>