Market Update for May 12, 2019
In today's update:
1) Aside from a late day rally on Friday, escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China put pressure on stocks around the Globe last week. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 114.01 or 0.44%, the S&P 500 added 10.68 or 0.37% while the Nasdaq 100 closed higher by 6.35 or 0.08% and the Russell 2000 finished higher by 2.94 or 0.19%.
2) Crude Oil Futures finished the week flat while Gold Futures moved slightly higher closing up $1.60 or 0.12%. The Bond market showed weakness and the yield on the 10-year Treasury Note settled at 2.467%.
3) While there is certainly a good chance that a trade deal will be reached and the equity markets will rally, it's never a bad idea to plan for the opposite. One stock that has been underperforming lately and could be considered a short candidate is Littelfuse Inc. (LFUS). LFUS has dropped 6% since announcing earnings on May 1st and has begun to post lower lows and lower highs.