Sept 29th 2014 – Stocks Close Down On Hong Kong Protests

Market News:

There is major protests in Kong Kong and the data is bad, yet the market recovered a sizeable chunk of the rather nasty gap down this morning.

Personally I was hoping it would come down some more to make things cheaper, but alas, there are clearly more market players that expect this to be enough of a dip buying opportunity than I thought it would be.

From a technical point of view, the chart is a bit of a mess with a lower high and a lower low intimating a change in trend to the down side in the coming weeks, but unfortunateklly without my crystal ball, it is difficult to read what it will do next given the powers that allowed it to rally on Friday and recover almost all of the gap today.  But, in my opinion, given the strength of the buying after Thursday’s dismal day we may be bottoming out here and I expect we will be heading higher by the end of the week for a new wave up.

Market News:

U.S. stocks closed down on Monday despite encouraging economic data as the Hong Kong protests weighed on global markets.

Energy led declines on the S&P and Dow Jones Industrial Average, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron the hardest hit.

The Dow and S&P regained ground after falling about 1 percent in the open. In late-morning trade, the Nasdaq also reversed losses to turn positive briefly before trading in the red again.

Stocks did not move much in reaction to a 1 percent decline in pending home sales for August, and futures were little changed after reports that personal income rose 0.3 percent in August, as expected.

Scheduled tomorrow are purchasing managers’ index and consumer confidence, ahead of Friday’s important jobs number.

Earlier, protests in Hong Kong had rattled global markets and U.S. stocks about percent lower, but most analysts said the situation would not have a long-lasting impact on markets.

The German DAX fell more than 1 percent on Monday, well below its 50-day moving average.

The Hang Seng closed 1.9 percent lower on Monday after pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong intensified over the weekend. Riot police fired rounds of tear gas and demonstrators continued to block roads on Monday, leading schools and banks to close.

But unless the situation continues to deteriorate significantly, analysts believed investors would resume a focus on domestic events.

Tuesday:

Earnings: Walgreen

9:00 a.m.: S&P/Case-Shiller home prices

9:45 a.m.: Chicago PMI

10:00 a.m.: Consumer confidence

News Sources:  CNN Money & CNBC