(DAILY NOTION): Will This Be Another Strong Week for Wall Street? Next Mover: U.S. Data, Progress of Biden Stimulus Package

NASDAQ 100 (as of Feb 15, 2021 at 12.50 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

SPX 500 (as of Feb 15, 2021 at 12.45 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

US30 (as of Feb 15, 2021 at 12.50 p.m.)

Source: Yahoo Finance

At the close of the week, the NAS100 was up 0.5%, the SPX500 gained 0.47%, and the US30 rose 0.09%. For the SPX500, it also recorded a new all-time high on Friday. The SPX500 closed above its 50-day Moving Average (MA) with the Relative Strength Index at 85, a strong overbought condition. Similarly, the NAS100 also closed above its 50-day MA with RSI of 83. Following in the footsteps of SPX500 and NAS100, the US30 closed above its 50-day MA with RSI of 76.

Reuters also reported that energy, financial, and materials shares were popular with investors as they traded in big technology stocks. Investors were also seen to move out of growth-orientated stocks to buy into cyclical and underpriced value stocks.

Optimism is increasing in the market in light of vaccination progress and declining cases in the U.S. It was reported by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that close to 53 million vaccines have been administered, which is about 72% of total vaccine distributed. The CDC also reported that there has been a 69% reduction in the daily number of cases, as compared to the national peak of Jan 8, which was 314, 093 cases.

This positive progress is reflected in the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX). Known to act as the ‘fear gauge’ on Wall Street, the index closed below 20, for the first time since Feb 2020. Furthermore, according to the Lipper Data on Thursday, there was the largest weekly inflow into U.S.-based stock funds since March 2008, amounting to $22.9 billion in one week to Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Biden Stimulus Package continues to make progress as the U.S. House Budget Committee is expected to wrap-up the legislative text this week. The Democrats are on a tight schedule as they plan to enact a stimulus plane by early March before the federal jobless benefits expire by early March. For this week, traders would be keeping an eye out for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) policy meeting minutes from January, which will be released on Wednesday. The release of January’s retail sales, industrial production data, and the latest initial jobless claims would most likely be on the radar to gauge economic recovery.

FOLLOWME User Sentiment (as of Feb 15, 2021 at 12.40 p.m.)

SPX500

Short – 87.05%

Long – 12.95%

NAS100

Short – 81.61%               

Long – 18.39%

US30

Short – 76.89%

Long – 23.11%