The Standard and Poors 500 index (SPX) closed today at 6740, down 90 points for a loss of 1.3%. SPX opened the week at 6824, setting up a weekly loss of 1.2%. SPX broke down through the 50 dma last week and today’s slide takes SPX to its low for this year. Trading volume ran along the 50 dma this week.

VIX, the volatility index for the S&P 500 options, spiked to 28% during trading on Tuesday and spiked as high as 30% today before closing at 29.5%.

I monitor the movement of high beta stocks by tracking the ETF containing the top 100 S&P 500 stocks ranked by beta, SPHB. SPHB closed today at 118.3, down 3.6 points or 3%. SPHB opened the week at 120.3, setting up a weekly loss of 1.7%. Trading volume was above average most of the week, peaking yesterday.



The NASDAQ Composite index closed today at 22,388, down 361 points or 
1.6%. NASDAQ opened the week at 22,322, setting up a weekly loss of 0.3%. NASDAQ was hit hard early in the week, recovered by Thursday and then gapped open lower today. NASDAQ’s trading volume ran along the 50 dma all week.


The war in Iran has spooked world economies. Yesterday, a retired admiral wrote an article saying that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed by Iranian speed boats. He set off a panic about oil prices that continued into today’s markets. Allow me to apply a little common sense and observe that most of the American Navy is in the Persian Gulf north of the strait of Hormuz and in the Gulf of Oman south of the strait and they have sunk 90% of the Iranian navy. This will be all over shortly.

Successful trading in this market is limited to two areas: 1) Buying quality stocks at bargain prices and 2) day trading the indices. I have been trading the SPX zero dte options all week and booked gains every day for a total of $4,900 with ten contracts in a $50k account. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. I will be happy to help in any way I can.