The start of the last month of the year began with a steep decline. The S&P dropped 0.9%, its worse one-day performance since October 8th, while the Dow lost nearly 270 points. The technology heavy Nasdaq dropped 1%. The selling was orderly and there were attempts to buy the market.
NYSE
- Advancers: 851
- Decliners: 2,111
- New Highs: 71
- New Lows: 3,033
- Up Volume: 891.2 million
- Down Volume: 1.5 billion
NASDAQ
- Advancers: 940
- Decliners: 2,242
- New Highs: 79
- New Lows: 43
- Up Volume: 632.7 million
- Down Volume: 1.13 billion
Trade related comments, in addition to U.S. manufacturing numbers, spooked the market yesterday.
- Restoring tariff on steel shipped from Brazil, Argentina
- Increasing tariffs if no China deal
Today’s session
Futures are sliding this morning after President Trump suggested the trade deal with China may happen after the election in 2020. The markets knee jerk reaction to Trump saying there's no deadline for a resolution of trade dispute with China is not news per se considering it's been Wall Street that's considered the December 15th an artificial deadline because of the potential new tariffs.
“In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right.”
Meanwhile, although the numbers are small, there is much anxiety over 2.4 billion in tariffs on French wine and cheese, and tariffs on Argentina and Brazil ostensibly over currency manipulation, but perhaps more because of how that manipulation has allowed those Nations to sell agriculture products against American farmers.
Oil pared gains following Trumps comments. Oil pulled back to $55.73 from a session high of $56.40.
Roku (ROKU) is reversing in pre-market hours after getting hammered yesterday on a Morgan Stanley downgrade, receiving a new Street-high price target of $200. I want to wait and not take initial bait, but I am looking to buy it again at some point.
Let's see how far we pull back. I have to admit though, I love these emotionally driven pullbacks in the market, as it allows for Price discovery, and more importantly for us to be more opportunistic.