Dark Days Of Crude

Yesterday, after five consecutive down sessions, the market could have packed it in when an early rally began to fade. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite rolled over into the negative column, but buyers finally arrived. So, after watching a lot of NFL Football announcers describe an avalanche of accolades-inducing Marque players being courageous and gutsy, I’ll show some restraint and say it was an encouraging session.

Market breadth was ho-hum, as there were more 52-week lows than highs.

Dark Days of Crude

Yesterday, oil stocks dominated the session, but they underperformed mightily against the S&P 500 over the past five years. During that period, the S&P 500 +106%, Energy (XLE) -11%.

There is no way crude oil stocks should be that far behind the broad market, but for political reasons, as deep-pocketed investors continue to shun them in order to appear as if they are Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliant (very few are).

Recommended

Trump’s Texas Deal Dilemma Kurt Schlichter

Advertisement

Related:

ECONOMICS INVESTING S&P STOCK MARKET STOCKS

Portfolio Approach

There are no weighting changes this morning to the Hotline Model Portfolio.

Today’s Session

There were some key declines in parts of the CPI report on month-to-month basis:

• Airfares -9.1%
• New Vehicles -1.5%
• Car/Truck Rental -8.5%
• Lodging away from home -2.9%

Monthly CPI +0.3% consensus +0.4%

Lowest in seven months.

Yearly CPI core +4.0% consensus 4.2%

The headlines put some pep into the market, but those gains are fading a bit. Lately, the market has opened firmly only to stumble into the close.