‘Hawkish Rate-Hike’ Gets the market in a tizzy

But lets not kid ourselves, all this talk about a ‘hawkish rate hike’, whatever that means, probably gives the bulls another opportunity to by the dip. If the bears can pull it together today, it could be a very nice for their short positions. But it is going to take the bulls passing up on the opportunity to turn on the buy machines and drive prices back to new all-time highs. 

It isn’t uncommon at all to see the market ignore the FOMC statement the day of release, and trick traders into thinking all is fine in the neighborhood, only to pull the rug out from underneath them the following day. That is what we possibly have unfolding here today. There was a temptation to buy the minor dip yesterday, and a lot of people did. Especially at the close, when the Nasdaq wiped clean, half of their losses on the day, and the Dow still finished at new all-time highs. 

I resisted the temptation to add any new long positions. My portfolio has a short bias to it, and while stocks like Goldman Sachs (GS) looked ready to rally, I held off on the temptation to do so. Instead, I passed on buying any long positions yesterday. 

Today, I have the flexibility to add some short exposure to the portfolio, and if the sell-off looks to hold, I will likely do so. If not, and the market wants to rally, then once again, I will be buying the dip as has been the norm many times in the past. I let the market show me the way, rather than forcing my motives on it. 

The important part about all of that is that I have the flexibility coming into a very uncertain market to play the market in either direction and that is exactly what I intend to do. 

S&P 500 Technical Analysis

Current Stock Trading Portfolio Balance: 

• 2 Long Positions, 1 Short Position

Recent Stock Trade Notables:

• Ferrari (RACE): Long at $84.60, closed at $89.93 for a 6.3% profit. 
• Amazon (AMZN): Long at $964.70, closed at $1001.23 for a 3.8% profit. 
• American Airlines (AAL): Long at $49.18, closed at $50.62 for a 2.9% profit
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $124.95, closed at $137.51 for a 10.1% profit. 
• Starbucks (SBUX): Long at $61.78, closed at $63.68 for a 3.1% profit.
• Western Digital (WDC): Long at $91.24, closed at $89.29 for a 2.1% loss. 
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $236.65, closed at $241.15 for a 2% profit.
• SPXU: Long at 16.60, closed at $16.98 for a 2.3% profit.
• JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Long at $87.84, closed at $85.98 for a 2.1% loss.
• Micron Technology (MU): Long at $29.00, closed at $28.04 for a 3.3% loss.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $116.25, closed at $124.09 for a 6.7% profit. 
• Southwest Airlines (LUV): Long at $58.35, closed at 57.23 for a 1.9% loss.  
• Broadcom (AVGO): Long at $223.63, closed at $228.65 for a 2.2% profit. 
• Workday (WDAY): Long at 86.00, closed at 90.32 for a 5% profit. 
• Univar (UNVR): Long at $30.96, closed at $32.20 for a 4% profit.
• Alibaba Group (BABA): Long at $111.91, closed at $115.48 for a 3.2% profit. 
• Redhat (RHT): Long at $85.21, closed at $87.21 foor a 2.4% profit. 
• Darling Ingredients (DAR): Long at $15.19, closed at $14.90 for a 1.9% loss. 
• Apple (AAPL): Long at $143.82, closed at $147.11 for a 2.3% profit.
• Teradyne (TER): Long at $31.16, closed at $33.03 for a 6.0% profit.
• UPRO: Long at $92.75, closed at $94.78 for a 2.2% profit. 

Sign up for Trading Block here.