Mid Day Trading Update – FOMC Posturing

Markets are again going after the livelihoods of all directional traders. The ADP & GDP figures that came out this morning might have fueled the morning rally after 10 AM almost up to all time highs on the S&P 500. We have since retraced back to the consolidation area off the open around $169 on the SPY.

The Financial sector has performed well today while money has been slowly coming out of these High Flyer names like Priceline PCLN, Google GOOG, Amazon AMZN and Facebook FB. The indexes have basically now leveled off at the open for the day and with the FOMC minutes looming in the background at 2 PM, it's natural to surmise that we'll sit in a choppy range.

The big story of the morning though took place in Mastercard MA & Visa V. MA reported earnings this morning and the stock was up over 20 points but then a ruling came out over debit card fees and both names got trashed. MA dumped 50 points from the highs of the day once investors started really panicking. The moves made for really nice scalp trades on the equity and options but you needed to be super quick on the keys to book quick gains.

Perception for this FOMC meeting is all over the place. You have some traders thinking we sell off while most thinking we plug away at those all time highs. If the FED announced zero change in policy it may be enough to stimulate the bulls for a push through $170 on the SPY. Anything is possible though, and having any kind of directional bias going into the meeting could have serious implications. Be careful out there guys!

Stay tuned for more updates!