Once again, the market opened lowered on the day, extending the losses from Thursday's session. However, we did have two days of +4% gains by the market, but that has been offset by three days of losses. And even though the losses feel like they added up this week, we are, in fact, relatively level on the week as far as the indexes are concerned.
The DOW fell 533 points, or -2.1%, cutting some of its morning losses. It had been down as much as 894 points at one point in the session. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ also pared losses slightly, last down -2.5% and -2.6%, on the day, respectively.
However, if you take a look at the weekly levels, the DOW is clinging to a weekly gain of +.5% while the S%P 500 is down -.3%. The NASDAQ is feeling the most pain in the week, losing roughly -.8% as we head into afternoon trading.
The dollar came under pressure this week after trying to breach the one hundred dollar level hitting a high of $99.91 on Feb. 20th and is now trading at $95.90, down -2% on the week and issuing a new red monthly Trade Triangle indicating that the long-term uptrend is over.
Gold is looking at it's best week since 2008 with a gain of +4.9% trading as high as $1,690.70 in early trading.
Crude oil continues to head lower, trading down -6% on the week hitting $42 a barrel. OPEC's plans for deep and prolonged oil cuts were derailed on Friday as non-OPEC Russia refused to support the move arguing that it was too early to predict the impact of a coronavirus outbreak on global energy demand. Failure to secure a deal between OPEC, Russia, and other members of an alliance known as OPEC+, which has propped up oil prices since 2016, sent the price of benchmark crude into a tailspin.
On the flip side, Bitcoin has been relatively quiet this week, gaining +5% on the week trading at the $9,000 level. Bitcoin will need to move above the $10,300 level next week to enter back into a long-term uptrend.
Key Levels To Watch Next Week:
- S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 3,393.52
- Dow (INDEX:DJI): 29,409.09
- NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 9,838.37
- U.S. Dollar (ICE:DX): 99.91
- Gold (NYMEX:GC.J20): 1,635.60
- Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.H20): 47.57
- Bitcoin (BITCOIN:BITSTAMPUSD): 10,300.00
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
