21Jul2015 Market Close: Markets Close Lower, Oil Steady, U.S. Dollar Stops Fall, Short-Term Indicators Bullish

Written by Gary

U.S. stocks fell today after weak earnings reports from International Business Machines and United Technologies dragged down the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The U.S. dollar has stopped its fall and gold is testing its lows again.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	VIX signals that an S&P 500 breakout may be delayed CINCINNATI (MarketWatch) — While the Nasdaq Composite has knifed to uncharted territory, several other widely-tracked U.S. benchmarks have reached major technical hurdles. Perhaps most notably, the S&P 500 has nailed major resistance at record territory — S&P 2,130 — against the backdrop of excessive investor complacency as measured by the Volatility Index. More plainly, the S&P 500’s breakout attempt may take time against the current backdrop. Before detailing the U.S. markets’ wider view, the S&P 500’s hourly chart highlights the past two weeks. As illustrated, the S&P has rallied to its final technical hurdle at record territory. Significant resistance spans from 2,130 to 2,134, an area matching its all-time highs, and overhead at the June peak. Conversely, near-term support rests at 2,117, and is followed by the 50-day moving average, currently 2,103. Read More > >
	Facebook must hand over New York users’ info to prosecutors, court rules (Reuters) – Facebook Inc cannot challenge search warrants New York prosecutors used to get information from its site on hundreds of users suspected of Social Security fraud, a state appeals court said on Tuesday, in a decision likely making it harder for New Yorkers to keep their digital lives private.
	SEC official rips proposed brokerage fee limits as ‘nanny-statism’ WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. securities regulator on Tuesday blasted a proposed Labor Department rule that aims to make it harder for brokers who offer retirement advice from steering clients into higher-fee products, calling the plan “rampant nanny-statism.”
	Citi ordered to pay $770 million over credit card practices (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc’s consumer bank has been ordered to pay $700 million in relief to borrowers for illegal credit card practices, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said.
	Verizon Feels AT&T’s Pain Verizon’s quarterly results suggest it is experiencing similar discount-driven pain to what AT&T endured last year.
	United Technologies Takes the Elevator Down China cast a pall over United Technologies’ second-quarter results.
	You Are Here “The only thing we have to fear is the lack of fear itself…” 30 Year average ‘VIX’ Charts: Bloomberg
	S&P Upgrades Greece Standard & Poor’s lifted Greece’s credit rating by two notches, although it remains in junk territory, citing last week’s bailout deal. S&P estimated the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone has fallen to below 50%.
	Iran’s Discount Deal for Global Oil Lifting sanctions will bring more oil, and it will be cheap too, reinforcing pressure on oil prices in two ways.
	Deeper back-to-school discounts to hurt teen clothing retailers (Reuters) – U.S. teenage apparel retailers face another tough back-to-school season as they are forced to discount more to lure customers who are flocking to trendier shops and embracing online shopping.
	Bits Blog: Security Researchers Find a Way to Hack Cars Early next month, two security researchers plan to detail how they were able to hack into a Jeep remotely and control the lights, brakes and steering from the Internet. Their discovery impacts some cars sold by Fiat Chrysler from late 2013 to 2015.
	China’s Market Plunge: Where Only 3% of Firms Could Trade During China’s selloff and subsequent rebound, the number of stocks freely trading was sharply constrainedâ€”and not just by suspensions.
	United Tech cuts outlook on aerospace, elevator pressures (Reuters) – United Technologies Corp , which agreed on Monday to sell its Sikorsky helicopter business, cut its full-year profit outlook on Tuesday as it warned of pressures in its aerospace systems and Otis elevators businesses.
	As Local Job Markets Improve, Job Seekers Shun Relocation For New Employment by Challenger Gray and Christmas The percentage of job seekers relocating for new positions declined in the first half of 2015, suggesting that as the recovery spreads, individuals are able to find better employment opportunities in their local market.
	Wall Street lower as IBM, United Tech results weigh (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday in the wake of results from IBM and United Technologies which curbed some optimism over earnings season while investors awaited quarterly profits from tech giants including Apple and Microsoft.
	Verizon cuts revenue outlook as price war continues (Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc on Tuesday lowered its full-year revenue target as it fends promotions from its competitors.
	Oil-Sensitive Currencies Hit by Commodity Slump Currencies in Norway, Canada, Russia and Nigeria have fallen sharply against the U.S. dollar this month on oil-price declines.
	Trucking Tonnage Index Softness Continues in June 2015. Econintersect: The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) trucking index decreased 0.5% following a downwardly revised increase of 0.8% in May.
	Greek PM Tsipras rallies Syriza backing before bailout vote ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tried to rally his leftwing Syriza party on Tuesday ahead of a vote in parliament on the second package of measures demanded by international creditors as a condition for opening talks on a new bailout deal.
	The One Trick Pony Market By Nicholas Colas of Convergex The One Trick Pony Market The S&P 500 is up 3.4% year to date, but over half that return comes from one sector: Health Care, which is up 13% YTD, and at a 15% weighting constitutes 57% of the S&P’s total gain on the year. In fact, half of the S&P 500’s industry groups are down on the year. Think Energy (-9.7%), Industrials (-2.9%) or Utilities (-8.6%). So where is the sector leadership coming from for the second half of 2015? Our monthly look at the “VIX of” different sectors and asset classes has an answer: Technology (+5.6% YTD) and Financials (+2.8% YTD). They both have solid weightings in the S&P 500, at 20% and 17%, respectively, and their individual “Fear Indices” (based on the same math as the CBOE VIX Index) are declining. And one bit of potentially bad news for gold (not that it hasn’t had enough lately): the VIX of the yellow metal has been rising as prices drop, but there is still a lot of relative complacency surrounding this price move. “Implied vol” in gold-based ETFs is still well below levels seen earlier this year and tells us the bottom isn’t in yet. * * * The definition of a “One Trick Pony” is someone or something that only does one task especially well. The origins of the phrase go back to old-time carnivals with animal acts. A pony that could only do one impressive trick obviously wasn’t an especially useful addition to the troupe. The Oxford English Dictionary lists its first time in printed usage as dating to 1905: “The marvels that were seen at the first one-tent, one-clown, one-trick-pony, pioneer Oregon circus.” The phrase almost died in common parlance until 1980, when Paul Simon released an album and starred in a movie of the same name. Fun fact: Lou Reed, t …