NextOptions.com Index and Earnings Options Play List for 12/2/2019
Bulls Wrap up Solid Month Despite Black Friday Pullback
8:00am (EST)
The market traded lower throughout Friday’s shortened session despite indications of a strong kick-off to the critical holiday selling season for the retail sector. Worries over president Trump’s signing of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 led to the overall weakness and could be a sticking point to locking up a phase one trade deal.
China responded by saying trade negotiations are still on track as long as the President doesn’t implement any of the law’s measures. The limited action and slight pullback snapped 4-session winning streaks but wrapped up a solid month of November as the major indexes had their best showing since June.
The Russell 2000 fell 0.6% following the intraday backtest to 1,624. Current and upper support at 1,625-1,610 was breached and failed to hold by a half-point with risk towards 1,600-1,585 on a move below the latter.
The Nasdaq gave back 0.5% after trading to a late day low of 8,664. Current and upper support at 8,650-8,600 held with a move below the former signaling risk towards 8,550-8,500.
The S&P 500 was lower by 0.4% with the low reaching 3,139 ahead of the closing bell. Near-term and upper support at 3,125-3,100 easily held with a move below the latter opening up risk towards 3,075-3,050.
The Dow was also down 0.4% following the pullback to 28,042. Near-term and upper support at 28,000-27,800 held with a close below the former getting 27,600-27,400 in focus.
For the week, the Russell 2000 gained 2.3% and Nasdaq jumped 1.7%. The S&P 500 rose 1% and the Dow was up 0.6%. For November, the Nasdaq zoomed 4.5% and the Russell 2000 soared 3.8%. The Dow surged 3.7% and the S&P rallied 3.4%.
Energy was the weakest sector on Friday after falling 1% while Consumer Discretionary was down 0.7%. There was no sector strength.
For the week, the best performing sectors were Consumer Discretionary (2.6%), Healthcare (2.2%) and Communication Services (1.7%). Energy (-1.6%) and Utilities (-0.8%) were the only sector laggards.
