12:25pm (EST)
The bulls got off to a decent start and have gathered some momentum following the better-than-expected economic news this morning. However, the gains have been contained as the bears are holding down resistance.
The Case-Shiller 20-City Index came in at 144.6 for July, its fourth straight monthly gain while the Richmond Fed numbers posted a positive 4 for September, up from a negative 9 print in August. Meanwhile, Consumer Confidence increased to 70.3 in September after dropping to 61.3 in August.
The Dow is up 35 points to 13,594 and has tripped 13,600 while the S&P is higher by 3 points to 1,460. The Nasdaq is showing a gain of 9 points to 3,170.
The market continues to trade in a tight range following the 2-week run the bulls had at the beginning of the month. The major indexes were up 4%, on average, going into last week and many of the market pros who have been calling for a pullback are still expecting one. Of course, many of them were on vacation following the bounce off the August lows and have missed the retest of the highs. They are hoping for a pullback so they don’t have to chase the market.
The bears have tried to crack support but haven’t had much luck, either. This leads us to believe that instead of a pullback, the market could see a continued tight range until 3Q earnings season starts which is 2 weeks from today. In the meantime, we are in a stock picker’s market which we thrive on.
On that note, we do have a NEW TRADE we are trying to get into and we have updated our current trades. We have two more trades approaching triple-digit gains and we have room for up to 5 more trades so we are going to get a little aggressive.
Subscribers, check the Members Area for the New Trade and please use limit orders to get the best fills. The options are pretty liquid so everyone should be able to get good entry prices. We will be back in the morning with a full update.