(DAILY NOTION): A Mixed Start to the Week for Wall Street, Next Mover: January Retail Sales, FOMC Minutes

NASDAQ 100 (as of Feb 17, 2021 at 12.30 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

SPX 500 (as of Feb 17, 2021 at 12.30 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

US30 (as of Feb 17, 2021 at 12.30 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

Wall Street began its week with the US30 rising 0.2%, while the NAS100 lost 0.34% and the SPX500 dipped 0.08%. The gains in US30 was supported by a rise in energy stocks, as cold weather Arctic temperatures hit parts of America and led to a rise in U.S. crude oil prices and natural gas.

Gains from the financial sector which would benefit from the rising U.S. treasury yields also contributed to the US30 performance. The 10-year U.S. treasury yields have risen past 1.28% for the first time in 12 months. Meanwhile, looking at the charts, only the US30 closed above its 50-day Simple Moving Average, while both NAS100 and SPX500 closed below it. 

Vaccination progress and a decline in the number of new cases is clearly impacted by the cold snap in various parts of America, especially with President Biden declaring a state of emergency in Texas on Sunday. The fear gauge of Wall Street, or the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), reflected this uncertainty and increased by 7%.

However, all hope does not seem lost for the bulls as recent reports from the Cable News Network (CNN) suggests that if all goes well for the Biden stimulus package, it could be rolled out by March 8. This would be instrumental in increasing the risk-on sentiment in the market as the $1.9 trillion package is expected to further fuel economic recovery.

In the nearer term, traders would be keeping an eye out for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes and the January retail sales figures, which is forecasted to increase by 1%. The recent New York Federal Reserve (Fed) Empire State manufacturing report showed that the headline general business conditions index rose to 12.1, which is its highest level in several months.

FOLLOWME User Sentiment (as of Feb 17, 2021 at 12.30 p.m.)

SPX500

Short – 90.00%

Long – 10.00%

NAS100

Short – 79.64%                

Long – 20.36%

US30

Short – 77.07%

Long – 22.93%