Weekly Wrap-Up + Market Forecast + Sector Watch: SPX, Nasdaq, FAS, BTK SOXX, FDN, XLE, GOOG, GOOGL, AMZN, PCLN, TWTR, FB, LNKD, GS, ADBE, APC, APA, EOG, OXY, CELG, GILD, BIIB, CLVS, INCY, KITE

The markets were range-bound last week, as stocks consolidated. After Labor Day Monday, Markets opened with a rally on Tuesday. But, as discussed in my Market Forecast last weekend, stocks hit resistance between 1970-1980. After a quick overshoot on Wednesday, buyers locked in profits. Thursday and Friday were tightly ranged.

We have been keeping mostly cash, but, still found some nice trades. AVGO calls gave us profits as high as +72%. On the stock side, we locked in profits on SEDG for a gain of +7.9%. Here are the closed trades for the week.

To subscribe or to find out more about this product, please CLICK HERE. Come see what Ecstatic Plays offers and what we are trading next!

For the week, the Dow was up +330.71 points; SPX added +39.83 points; Nasdaq gained +138.42 points. Gold fell to below $1110/ounce. Oil (WTI) slipped below $45/barrel. Over the weekend, China reported a slow-down in its factory output. At the time of this writing, it seemed enough to place pressure on Asian stocks, which were mostly lower. Still China is aiming for a 7% GDP growth for 2015, although it seems that economists outside of China does not believe in that number.

Whether online or on TV, everyday you hear people arguing over Fed's up-coming decision on interest rates. Then, they worry about China's economy and whether or not China's GDP numbers are real. Finally, they try to rationalize what happens on the stock market each day, coming up with a "reason" for which ever way the market goes. I think these are just "noises", either people trying to make themselves useful by coming up with mental explanations for what is happening to feed the media, or people trying to "mislead" others by creating a false picture to make the scene even more confusing.

If you have not realized this, you should at least try to consider it: the stock market is a game! There are many facets to the game, and, we play the ones that we can. Most of the big trades on the markets are now being done by computer algorithms. Only the price actions will tell the truth. There does not necessarily always need to be logical reasons, especially when the markets are range-bound. Certainly, the computers do not understand "reasons". All they know is what are mathematically "possible", and, they often act along those possibilities, or rather "plausibilities". Soon enough, actually on Wednesday, we will know whether the Fed raises rates or not. There is really no need to stress ourselves out over the Fed, or trying to read all the arguments over whether the Fed should or should not raise rates. It is not the game that we need to play. At least, it is not for me.

So, having said all that, let's see where the US markets stood after Friday's close:

SPX

On Friday, SPX added +8.76 points to close at 1961.05. It closed above its 10-day MA. The MACD went up.

Nasdaq

Nasdaq gained +26.09 points to close at 4822.34. It closed above its 20-day MA. Its MACD also went up.Techs out-performed the broader market, as Nasdaq climbed above its 20-day MA. SPX felt the pressure from the energy stocks on Friday, but, still managed to close higher. For the new week...

If you'd like to read the rest of the articles, please subscribe to my Ecstatic Plays product (Click Here). Ecstatic Plays portfolio also started trading stocks, in addition to options. Please Click Here to see more details.

Posted to Ecstatic Plays on Sep 14, 2015 — 1:09 AM
Comments ({[comments.length]})
Sort By:
Loading Comments
No comments. Break the ice and be the first!
Error loading comments Click here to retry
No comments found matching this filter
Want to add a comment? Take me to the new comment box!