Wall Street Close: The Nasdaq again bucks the trend as the S&P and Dow struggle

One of the big stories today comes as Apple moves to close some of their US stores amid growing fears about the COVID-19 pandemic. The company stated it would reclose 11 stores across the U.S. in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arizona after the coronavirus case counts racked up. 

Today is also quadruple witching, when stock options, stock index futures, and index option contracts expire on the same day. This means that traders and investors need to rebalance their positions and rollover some current holding. 

Commodities have performed well today as gold, silver, copper, oil and nat gas all trade higher. This gave the energy names some reprieve after struggling earlier on in the week. The VIX has also found itself moving lower but it is still now under the key moving averages (55 and 200) conclusively. 

This week has been one to forget for the travel names as Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Travellers and Trip Advisor all fell over 10%. Semi-Conductor and Pharma names have traded very well as the leaderboard on the Nasdaq is NXP Semiconductors is in pole position followed by Biomarin Pharmaceuticals for the week.

S&P 500 daily chart

The S&P 500 has stuttered once again today and the rollover to the downside is looking increasingly likely. The arrow points out the doji (indecision) candles where the bulls and bears seem to be held at equilibrium. The wave low of 2936.50 is the key support as if it is broken the lower high lower low price action would be confirmed. Dow theorists and Elliott wave traders would be licking their lips at the prospect. 

Next week then will be very important and the weekend coronavirus news could cause havoc at the open. On the downside, the moving averages will also need to be taken out and the last time the price hit the combination of the two it quickly recovered higher.

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