Stock market breadth shows weakness

Global Stock Market Today

The global stock market continues to consolidate as investors aren’t sure what could be the next big catalyst that might drive the stock market rally higher. For now, the hopes are that it could be a coronavirus vaccine that could initiate the next bull run, as concerns continue to grow over the recent surge in coronavirus cases around the globe.

Over in Asia, the stock market mostly closed in positive territory. The HSI index advanced 0.63%. The Shanghai stock index also moved higher by1.94%, while the Korean Kospi soared 0.44%. The Japanese Nikkei Index increased by 0.18%.

Dow Index and S&P500 Index: Market Breadth

The Dow Jones’ market breadth remained the same yesterday. 70% of the Dow Jones stocks traded above their 200-day moving average yesterday. 

The S&P 500 stock breadth weakened a little. 63% of the shares traded above their 200-day moving average yesterday. This is a change of -1% from a day earlier. 

Dow Jones and S&P 500 Futures Today

The Dow Jones futures are trading higher by 20 points, a very small margin. Investors will be looking at the U.S. Consumer Confidence data, which is due at 1:30 PM BST. The forecast is to see a little improvement as compared to the previous reading. Economists are expecting the reading of 75 while the previous number came in at 74.1

The Dow Jones futures are back above the 50-day SMA on the daily timeframe, but the price is also trading below the downward trend line.  This week, the price has done nothing but trade within the lows and highs of the last week. This shows that traders are uncertain about the future direction of this trade. On the weekly timeframe, the bulls are still in control of the price as the price is trading above the 50, 100 and 200-day SMA.

The S&P 500 futures, the wider representation of the U.S. equity market, are firmly trading below the 50-day SMA on the daily timeframe. This confirms that the bulls have lost some control of the price. However, the price is still trading above the 50 and 100-day SMA on the daily timeframe, and this means that the bull trend isn’t over. In terms of support, the next possible support could be near the 100-day SMA.   

Stock Market Rally 

The S&P 500 stock index closed in red for the second consecutive day yesterday, and the index fell by 0.84%. The real estate sector led the index lower, and 8 out of 11 sectors closed lower. 

Mosaic stock contributed the biggest gain, soaring 6.41%. Illumina stock was the largest drag; it fell by 7.58%. The S&P 500 stock index is up 8.3% during this quarter.

The Dow index snapped its four-day winning streak, and the Dow stocks moved the index lower by 0.47%. 13 stocks of the Dow Jones Index increased in value, and 17 shares of the Dow index moved lower. 3M stock advanced higher by 1.69%, and was the biggest mover for the Dow, while Salesforce stock dropped 2.42%, the biggest drag for Dow Jones industrial average index.  

The NASDAQ composite, a tech-savvy index, declined 1.27% yesterday.