News:
Markets opened green on Thursday as investors cheered the surge in new unemployment filings.
- Last week 211,000 new claims were filed
- That’s a jump of more than 10% from the previous week
- It’s the highest level in months
Cracks in the labor market could persuade The Fed to stop raising interest rates.
The bullish sentiment was short-lived … Shares of SVB Financial Group (SIVB), a Silicon Valley-based bank, plunged more than 75% in the past 24 hours.
- The bank is seeking to raise $2.25 billion through a sharing offering
- The CEO blamed, in part, the bank’s client’s “elevated cash burn rates”
- The selloff drug the entire financial sector lower
Additional losses included….
- JPMorgan Chase (JPM) -5%
- Bank of America (BAC) -6%
- Charles Schwab (SCHW) -13%
The selloff wasn’t contained to the financial industry. Losses rippled across Wall Street. All four major indexes posted steep declines…
- Dow Jones -1.7%
- Nasdaq -2.1%
- S&P 500 -1.8%
- Russell 2000 -2.8%
Sector Round Up
All 11 sectors ended Thursday lower.
At the top…
- Utilities (XLU) -0.8%
- Consumer Staples (XLP) -0.9%
- Healthcare (XLV) -1.0%
At the bottom…
- Consumer Discretionary (XLY) -2.4%
- Materials (XLB) -2.6%
- Financials (XLF) -4.1%
Crypto Crash
Bitcoin^ is trading below $20,000 this morning, the lowest level in about 2 months.
- The broader market selloff in the wake of Silvergate’s (SI) collapse sent prices lower
- We remain bullish long-term on the digital asset
Technicals:
The S&P 500’s uptrend was broken by yesterday’s selloff…
We took profits as our seasonal swing stopped out. Now we are watching for further weakness to make bearish bets into.
Fear is back in the market, and a retest of October’s lows is not out of the question.
This morning…
- The VIX spiked above the key level of 22.5
- RSI levels are all neutral
- The Put-to-Call Ratio is oversold
Timing:
The next news-maker dropped at 8:30 am … the Monthly jobs report will give us a deeper look at the labor market.
Today is also a notable anniversary…
23 years ago today, the Dot-Com bubble peaked.
- Over the next two and a half years, the Nasdaq fell 78%
Watchlist:
*Low Float
^Open Position
*BLPH on watch
*AMAM support at $8
*UNCY on watch
*BBW resistance at $26
*RRGB support at $11
*XPOF support at $28
MAXN support at $26, resistance at $27.50
ASRT support at $6
PTGX on watch
DKS support at $140
SQSP support at $25
ARLO support at $5
Secondary Watchlist, float 100+ million
IOT on watch
YEXT support at $9
RELY support at $15
ARDX support at $4
GOTU support at $4.50
BGCP support at $4.50