September 20, 2024 7:56am

Today is triple witching Friday; trading in closing, opening, and offsetting futures and options contracts during triple-witching days is related to squaring positions, the surge of activity can also produce price inefficiencies

Pre-open Indications: 2 Negative Indications

My interpretation of the morning’s numbers is written to be informative; it’s built on what happened or will happen behind the headline today!

Never leave an investor uninformed

 

Remember that overnight and pre-open actions’ futures and markets doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in today’s market session.

My interpretation of the morning’s numbers is written to be informative; it’s built on what happened or will happen behind the headline today!

 

Friday: The pre-open Dow futures are DOWN -0.04% or (-17 points), the S&P futures are DOWN -0.29% or (-17 points) and the Nasdaq futures are DOWN -0.44% or (-87 points)

  • Futures are depressed and fluctuating on Friday,
  • European markets moved lower following slew of central bank decisions,
  • Asia-Pacific markets were higher Friday

 

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies

Thursday: The Dow closed UP +522.09 points or +1.26%, the S&P closed UP +95.38 points or +1.70% while the Nasdaq closed UP +440.68 points or +2.51%

  • Thursday’s advance/decline line ended with a positive close at the close of 24 incliner, 8 decliners and 3 flats
  • Through Thursday’s close, the 3 major indexes are experiencing weekly gains, with the S&P 500 up nearly 1.6%; the Dow is toting a +1.5% jump on the week, while the Nasdaq has a +1.9% advance.

 

Thursday’s RegMed Investors (RMi) Closing bell: “snap-crackle and a big pop. The day after; is there a walk of shame i.e. decline coming as equities moved skyward after rate cut? Economy’s new word – bifurcation, I also believe in … consumers are feeling the squeeze, facing mounting debts at elevated interest rates while inflation eats into wage gains.” … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/13623

 

Q3/24:

  • September – 7 positive and 7 negative close
  • August – I neutral, 10 positive and 11 negative closes
  • July: 1 market holiday. 1 day off, 6 negative, 1 neutral and 12 positive closes

 

Companies in my headlights – It’s your decision; I provide ideas and context 

I post about “indication intelligence” looking toward investment conferences … to assist investors with insight into sector vulnerabilities and strengths.

A dictionary definition of “indicate” refers to something less than a certainty; an indication could be a signal of being oversold or overbought, a recommendation, or grounds for inferring or a basis for believing.

Negative Indications:

Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday and last Friday closing “numbers” with aftermarket/pre-market dollar ($) and cent ($0.00) value and percentage (%)

Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) closed up +$0.51 after Wednesday’s -$0.31 with a negative -$0.10 or -1.33% aftermarket

Vericel (VCEL) closed up +$1.68 after Wednesday’s +$2.03, Tuesday’s -$0.29 and Monday’s -$1.15) with a negative -$0.93 or -1.94%

 

 

The BOTTOM LINE: consider rotating out of offensive growth names

NOT changing a “hook” that captures readers' attention …

  • Markets were buoyant on Thursday ahead of Friday's triple-witching, which refers to the simultaneous expiration of stock options, index options, and index futures contracts.

Triple-witching often results in greater trading volume and volatility, especially in the final hour of the session.

  • The majority of long-term, buy-and-hold investors shouldn't be too worried, as heightened volatility and unexpected price swings are likely to be short-lived. <Investopedia>

 

As volatility is on-call in today’s sector

  • I am STILL wondering if … sentiment is moribund.
  • Keep overall exposure low and be ready to exit quickly.
  • As I have joked, “uncle algo and his electronic trading dwarfs” come to roost” until they fly away!

 

Moving forward through September, October and a few weeks of November, I believe the cell and gene therapy sector equities could be a bit rocky as Q3 LPS (loss-per-share) earnings releases step to bat.

 

Welcome to my world of defining the “grey’ in our universe!

  • Right up front, “I also hate to be so negative or contrarian but, this is a NO spin zone and facts are its product; I can always be WRONG but … I am mostly EARLY!”
  • The sector is what it is, until it isn’t and even then, it doesn’t seem to be… as NOT much changes as the sector’s share pricing rides the waves of volatility, algorithms, electronic trading and short covering.
  • I am more frequently right than consequentially wrong; if I wanted to be liked, I wouldn’t have been an analyst/journalist.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice. All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.  Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and it’s or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors could hold or have positions securities referred to in this publication and he will NOTIFY investors of holdings.