Markets saw early weakness Friday, but was able to pare losses into the close. The big headline today, though, was thesharp sell-off in the precious metals. When we walked in this morning, Gold (GLD) was opening below macro support, and traders were watching closely to see how it reacted after the opening bell. GLD drifted lower but was relative quiet until around 10:30, when in a frantic half-hour a wave of high-volume selling hit the tape. The damage was done, but GLD still managed to put in another leg lower in the last hour of the session. When the dust cleared, Gold had finished the day down 4.70%, while its cousin Silver (SLV), tanked 5.32%.
The banks were able to hold up relatively well after JP Morgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) beat "consensus estimates" this morning with their earnings reports, but seemed to fall short of whisper numbers. The Financial Sector ETF (XLF) closed the day down 0.48%, but contained the damage well after the gap down. Traders will be watching the rest of the bank earnings closely next week.
Apple (AAPL) once again showed relative weakness in tech, falling 1.04%. The stock seems stuck in the mud and traders would be best-served to take it off their gameplan each day. Facebook (FB) also disappointed traders who have been looking for follow-through to the upside as it slumped 2.20%.
Overall, the macro trend remains firmly to the upside as this week markets were able to snap back impressively from Friday's jobs report-induced gap down. Money continues to rotate through sectors as investors look for charts that are not too extended, and we continue to look to identify those trends.
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*DISCLOSURES: No relevant positions
