Markets never saw the light of day Wednesday as the entire session was spent in negative territory. To make matters worse the Nasdaq dropped 1.1%, almost double the drop of the S&P 500’s .6% fall. The small cap IWM fell 2% and as we spoke about yesterday it often is a good forecaster of what the major indexes may be up to next. Heading into Thursday, which is the last day of the week with the holiday coming Friday, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have declined by .6% (the IWM is lower by 2.5%). Losses were broad Wednesday with materials and energy which have been robust during the recent market rally falling 2.6 and 2.4% respectively. Oil dropped nearly 3% today and each time the market makes baby steps to break free of the strong correlation it comes back to rear its ugly head. Bonds are starting to tease investors for a little attention as below we take a look at the TLT. This week the ETF is higher by .3%, not surprising with the major stock indexes lower, but last week it rose 1.3% the same performance that the S&P 500 put in, almost a perfect correlation at least for a week! A theme we have been discussing this week too has been the retail weakness. Wednesday NKE took center stage, losing 3.8% after an earnings report. It was its second straight negative earnings reaction with a fall of 2.4% on 12/23 too. Former leader LB recorded a bearish death cross today, when most stocks are registering golden crosses. And remember not to long ago the RH debacle slumping almost 26% after slashing guidance (it reports earnings next Tuesday after the close) on 2/25. All 3 of these aforementioned names were former retail generals. Are we listening carefully enough to what they are telling us?
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