Despite a rough day highlighted by a shooting attack in California, the S&P 500 remains firmly in the middle of our well established trading range. The Nasdaq is showing relative strength as it flirted with recent highs. We are coming into a season that should be decidedly bullish going forward. Economic data has sent mixed signals…relative improvements in jobs and retail, but weakness in manufacturing and orders. Commodities remain weak, as the dollar remains strong. Black Friday shopping activity reveals a strong continuation of the shift from brick and mortar shopping to online purchases. Companies like Amazon (AMZN) are benefitting greatly by this trend.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has not poked its head above 20 since mid-November. Wednesday’s bearish action caused an intra-day surge above 16, before the VIX settled back to 15.91. Overall market sentiment is cautiously bullish, and little changed from a week ago. These are optimal conditions for options cash flow strategies. To learn more, click here: http://www.optionsuniversity.com/options-academy-online/
OVERSEAS: In Asia, markets are mostly showing strength in overnight action. Shanghai in particular has put up strong numbers that last two trading days, and Shenzhen is up over 2% in one day. The IMF’s decision to include the Chinese currency on its approved list could be having a positive impact. The Nikkei is flat. Europe is mixed and flat as British forces attack ISIS, and we await possible ECB action on quantitative easing later today.
OIL: Inventories continue to climb as 1.2 Million barrels was added to an already super swollen stockpile. The price of oil is holding just above $40 per barrel. Where is the bottom on oil? Is it time to get long on the big oil names yet? Click here to find out: http://www.optionsuniversity.com/tradesmith-video-newsletter/
MANUFACTURING: In a word: soft. A rising U.S. Dollar and low commodity prices don’t make things any easier. Both productivity and wages are increasing, but when you query the people running American factories looking at order activity, the picture painted is slightly below mediocre.
JOBS: The ADP Employment report garnered lots of attention this week as job gains came in at 217K compared to an expectation of only 183K. Jobless claims data, hot off the press, had an expectation of 269K newly employed people, and the actual number came in exactly as expected.
BIOTECH INSIDER: Allergan and Pfizer just announced a $160 billion merger between the two, strengthening an already hot year for biotech M&A activity. As of November, the sector has seen nearly $400 billion worth of deals make headlines. And it’s far from over. Johnson & Johnson is on the hunt for deals. Amgen is looking to spend $10 billion on an acquisition. As long as competition heats up, big biotech will be on the hunt for new up-and-coming drugs in an effort to strengthen pipelines damaged by lagging sales of older products and loss of patent protection. To learn more about the potential of M&A activity in the sector, click here: http://optionswealthinsiders.com/biotechv2/… And to get further information on just how profitable biotech investing is, please view our free educational video here: http://www.optionsuniversity.com/blog/biotech-big-money-secrets-recording/
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