Jerry Samet
02-15-2022, 06:52 PM
The market staged a strong rally today on news that Russia may be pulling back some of its troops on the Ukrainian border. The major averages gapped higher at the open and worked their way up from there. All the major averages finished high in their intraday trading range. The Nasd averages were the strongest with the COMPQ and the NDX gaining 2.53% and 2.47% respectively. The SPX rallied 1.58%. Volume was significantly higher across the board. It gained 20.70% on the Nasd and 17.95% on the New York. This shows that large institutional players were buying stocks today. Leading stocks had a good session as well with the leaders index gaining 3.27% on the day. The index closed high in its trading range on slightly lower and below average volume. The news before the open of a possible Russian pullback caused a strong relief rally. After being beaten down on Ukraine news any good news was likely to cause a rally. It is not certain that an invasion will be averted but any good news at this point is welcome. The SPX and NYA overcame their 200dma’s today but the other major averages remain below this important moving average. It has been the Fed and Ukraine that have been the primary issues for the market lately. There may be some good news on Ukraine but that is uncertain. The Fed is a bigger issue and it looks like they will go ahead with rate increases and draining liquidity. Today’s action was good but it didn’t do much to change the overall picture. A solution to the Ukraine crisis would cause a short term rally, but at the end of the day Fed action will rule. Jerry