November 1, 2024

Markets:

Nasdaq 100 futures advanced Thursday night as traders analyzed major earnings reports.

Amazon rallied more than 5% as strength in the cloud and advertising businesses propelled the ecommerce giant above Wall Street’s earnings expectations. Intel soared more than 5% after exceeding analysts’ forecasts for revenue and offering strong guidance.

Those moves come after a downbeat session on Thursday, which saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dragged down by post-earnings slumps in Microsoft and Meta Platforms. Both of the indexes notched their worst sessions since early September. The Dow, meanwhile, tumbled more than 300 points.

Thursday also marked the end of a losing trading month, a negative mark amid a strong year. The Dow led the major indexes down with a slide of 1.3%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq shed 1% and 0.5%, respectively.

The U.S. economy added far fewer jobs last month than anticipated at just 12,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 100,000 jobs for October. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, came in at 4.1%.

Asia-Pacific markets traded lower Friday, with investors on tenterhook ahead of the U.S. presidential election and China’s highly anticipated parliament meeting next week.

Portfolio:

Here we are once again, seeing this market's resilience and reaffirming that downturns offer valuable buying opportunities. While we’re still a few days away from the election, we anticipate some volatility leading up to it. Our hope is for a clear winner, minimizing post-election uncertainty, as that would be the healthiest outcome for the market in the short term. Once the results are digested, the anticipated upward trend should take shape—a moment we’ve been forecasting for months. The technical setup presents a substantial opportunity.

As we head into the final trading session of the week and kick off a new month, we’re holding positions in SOXL & TSLL only.  The remaining major headline risk is, of course, the election. We’re also closely watching some sector-specific earnings reports next week that will create key opportunities in areas we’re actively attacking.  Be ready today.