Russell 2000 Suggests the Best Position May Be on the Sidelines

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Yesterday’s market was a reflection of the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. However, the expectation of a rate hike in June kept buyers at bay.

As a result, eight of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 closed lower — with the S&P 500 overall down by 0.13% — with energy unchanged and the financial sector up 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a slight gain, the Nasdaq lost 0.4% and the Russell 2000 fell 0.6%.

A decline in copper prices was a lead story with the May delivery off 3.5% to $2.53 per pound. The fall in price was the biggest single-day percentage decline since September 2015 and resulted from a rise in inventories. As a direct result of the fall in copper, Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) lost 5.5% closing at $12.02. And the materials sector of the S&P 500 lost 1%.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8 points to close at 20,958, the S&P 500 lost 3 points at 2,388, the Nasdaq fell 23, closing at 6,073, and the Russell 2000 fell 8 points to 1,391. The NYSE’s primary exchange traded 917 million shares with total volume of 3.9 billion shares. The Nasdaq crossed over 2 billion shares. On the Big Board, decliners outpaced advancers by 1.4-to-1, and on the Nasdaq, decliners led by 1.8-to-1. Blocks on the NYSE increased to 7,610 from 7,352 on Tuesday.


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Russell 2000 Suggests the Best Position May Be on the Sidelines


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Although the spread is much wider on the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF’s (NYSEARCA:MDY) support/resistance lines than on the iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF) (NYSEARCA:IWM), the two charts are similar. Both have double tops (IWM at $140, MDY at $319), both settled yesterday above their respective 50-day moving averages, and both have CBR support in March. Flat volume is also similar, as is a positive MACD.

Conclusion: Neither technical picture gives a clear indication as to its future direction, only that support appears solid on both. But neither indicates a strong bullish bias.

I choose to sit this one out until a short- to intermediate-term signal is given.

Today’s Trading Landscape

To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.

For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.

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