That is the market summary. I will add how I speculated and traded later.
Monday:
The stock market rallied to begin November with the Nasdaq Composite setting the pace. The tech-heavy index surged 1.5% while the S&P 500 (+1.2%) followed right behind. Equity indices started the trading day on an inconspicuous note after the overnight session featured some mixed economic data. In China, October Manufacturing PMI missed expectations (49.8; expected 50.0) while final Caixin PMI improved to 48.3 from 47.6, but remained below 50.0, indicating continued contraction. Asian markets ended the day on a broadly lower note, but the investor sentiment improved after European participants joined the fray and the market was treated to mostly better than expected PMI readings from regional economies. The eurozone Manufacturing PMI improved to 52.3 from 52.0 (expected 52.0), helping lift European markets off their opening lows. Once the U.S. session got going, an opening trot higher turned into a daylong charge paced by energy and biotechnology as both groups built on their October gains. Biotech names wasted no time, rallying from the opening bell to send the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 338.06, +12.60) higher by 3.9%. For its part, the health care sector spiked 2.1%, but the group was overtaken by the energy sector (+2.4%) during the afternoon.
Starting the week, I held the long and short position I built on the previous Wednesday. I added long on the previous Friday.
The weekly goal has been reached after the market rallied for 165 pts. I kept all positions. I added more position on the long side and hedged with one short position.
Tuesday:
Stocks registered their second consecutive advance on Tuesday with the S&P 500 climbing 0.3%. The benchmark index settled a bit behind the Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.5%) with cyclical sectors pacing the advance. Equity indices saw modest losses at the start of the trading day, but the market was able to overcome the early weakness thanks to continued leadership from the energy sector as the growth-sensitive group surged 2.5% to extend its weekly gain to 5.0%. The Tuesday rally was powered by a 3.8% spike in crude oil, which settled at $47.90/bbl, while top-weighted components like Chevron (CVX 98.14, +3.18) and ExxonMobil (XOM 86.83, +1.55) posted respective gains of 3.4% and 1.8%.
The account balance kept going up and I really were struggled whether I should book all profit or not. After checking the vix chart, I felt the pull back was imminent. But I really was not sure how much the pull back was. At last I only added more short position. (My new solution is to close all, but I didn't).
Wednesday:
The market snapped its two-day streak on Wednesday, but the midweek pullback was fairly modest in scope. The S&P 500 shed 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) outperformed, settling just below its flat line. Equity indices began the day on a modestly higher note, but the slight early strength faded quickly, sending the major averages into the red during the opening hour. In addition, investors heard from Fed Chair Janet Yellen who addressed the House Financial Services Committee to discuss regulation and supervision of financial institutions; however, the Q&A portion drifted towards questions about the upcoming December policy meeting with Fed Chair Yellen reiterating that a rate hike could happen in December if economic data shows improvement. Eight sectors ended the day in negative territory with energy (-1.0%) spending the bulk of the session behind the remaining nine groups. It is worth noting that the slide followed a 5.0% gain over the previous two days and the sector also had to contend with selling in the commodity market where crude oil fell 3.4%, ending the pit session at $46.32/bbl.
I started to regret about my Tuesday's action since the balance was down with the market's pulling back although the short positions were above water.
Anyway, I added one long position.
Thursday:
Equity indices posted their second consecutive decline on Thursday with the S&P 500 shedding 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) underperformed. Broadly speaking, the Thursday affair was fairly quiet, but that was not particularly surprising considering investors were set to receive the Employment Situation report for October on Friday morning. Biotechnology was largely responsible for Thursday's relative weakness in the tech-heavy Nasdaq with Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX 78.77, -13.21) back in focus, diving 14.4%, amid continued concerns about the company's revenue recognition practices.
My account was flat and I didn't want any additional risks so that I didn't trade.
Friday:
Dow +46.90 at 17910.33, Nasdaq +19.38 at 5147.12, S&P -0.73 at 2099.20
The S&P 500 could not avoid its third consecutive decline on Friday as rising rate hike expectations weighed on equities. To be fair, the benchmark index missed a green close by 0.74 points while the Dow (+0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) erased their opening losses.
Equities stumbled at the start after the October Employment report easily surpassed expectations, thus increasing the likelihood of a fed funds rate hike at the December policy meeting to 69.8% from yesterday's 58.1%. Specifically, October nonfarm payrolls came in at 271,000 while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 181,000. Also of note, hourly earnings rose 0.4% while the consensus expected an uptick of 0.2%.
NFP. I woke up early at 5:10AM and closed some long position before the announcement and added one short position. If I didn't wake up that early, I probably would not have traded. After I was awake, I felt like that I wanted to reduce the risk.
I booked some profit. Later the day I added more long position and called it a week. I still have the short positions I built last week and this week.
The account balance is at the highest for the week. I should add more short position next week.
| Index | Started Week | Ended Week | Change | % Change | YTD % |
| DJIA | 17663.54 | 17910.33 | 246.79 | 1.4 | 0.5 |
| Nasdaq | 5053.75 | 5147.12 | 93.37 | 1.8 | 8.7 |
| S&P 500 | 2079.36 | 2099.20 | 19.84 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Russell 2000 | 1161.86 | 1199.75 | 37.89 | 3.3 | -0.4 |
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