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Daily Stock Market Summary

Markets opened the session down sharply today, fearful of the repercussions of new trade sanctions imposed on China by the Trump Administration. They continued to freefall in early trading but seemed to be steadying at the time of this writing. Industrial stocks perceived as most vulnerable to Chinese retaliation (eg. Boeing andCaterpillarar) are leading the way down. Gold is up and bond yields are retreating as more money looks for a safe haven.

A confusing macroeconomic picture continues to drive a highly volatile stock market. Investors simply don’t seem to know what to make of the economy, as yesterday’s reaction to the US Federal Reserve’s policy announcement demonstrates. With the Fed sticking to its long-planned pace of 3 interest rate increases for 2018, stocks jumped sharply on the initial announcement. Then, investors began realizing the Fed had accelerated its prediction for rate increases in 2019. Major indexes quickly turned bearish.

With bubbling conflict over global trade introducing another powerful source of volatility, the roller coaster market looks set to continue. Investors still face a great deal of uncertainty on the global response to the United States’ turn toward protectionism.

A high volatility environment is actually associated with higher returns for quantitative stock trading approaches using real-time news analytics. We explore why in our weekly training seminars (they’re totally free; we still have seats available for the next virtual session):

Today’s Top Performer: Land’s End (LE)

Clothing Retailer Jumps on Nice Financial Results

Land’s End, a major US clothing maker, posted financial results for 2017Q4 this morning. Revenues were up over 10% year over year, with an additional boost from tax reform money. Retail sales moved down slightly (apparently due largely to the decline of Sears) but direct sales appear strong.

Investors looked upon the report favorably, buying the stock on heavy volume. It sits up around 22% at the time of this writing.

The strong sales numbers suggest that Land’s End is performing well in the online marketplace, a key differentiator investors in recent months, as physical retailers struggle on multiple fronts. Brands that can’t market directly without physical store presence will stand to suffer.

The gains mark a welcome respite for LE. After reaching the $30 mark during 2015, it fell close to just $10 last year.

Keep checking our blog for some of the best plays generated by our platform every week (just a few of the 1000’s available to our members each and every week).