NASDAQ 100 What's Inside:
- Apple (AAPL) earnings miss on shortfall in iPhone sales
- Sends Nasdaq 100 below support
- FOMC today, should lead to good opportunities in the days ahead
Earnings. Last Thursday, after the bell Alphabet/Google and Microsoft both missed earnings and sent the Nasdaq 100 futures sharply lower heading into Friday. Those two (three) companies combine for about 18% of the index’s weighting. Last night, Apple, which accounts for roughly 11% of the Nasdaq 100, reported disappointing earnings. In short, iPhone sales took another hit. Shares of Apple (APPL) were down about 8% following the release of their results and the Nasdaq futures sold off by roughly 45 handles in response.
This will start the Nasdaq 100 off, again, on a bad note. We had been noting a critical area of support in the 4433/50 vicinity. As it currently stands it is well below that region, now turning key support into an area of resistance on a rebound. It would require a strong recapture above 4450 to turn the picure back right-side up. Further selling should have the index seeing the 4382/73 area as the next stopping point. The relative weakness between the Nasdaq 100 and other major US indices keeps it as the preferred short among the group until it shows strength otherwise.
Today, at 14:00 EST/18:00 GMT, the FOMC will release its decision on interest rates and policy statement. There is no expectation for rates to change, so it will be business as usual for the market; parsing through and interpreting any language changes which might provide further clues on the Fed’s intentions moving forward. No speculation on this end as to what those changes will be, rather I will take a neutral stance and react to the market’s reactions.
Trading the couple of days after the FOMC tends to be fruitful in offering opportunities as the market sorts things out. Once we see what the outcome is we can better assess what the next ‘play’ on the market may be.
Nasdaq 100 Daily: Oct '15 to Present
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---Written by Paul Robinson, Market Analyst
You can follow Paul on Twitter @PaulRobinsonFX, or email him directly at probinson@fxcm.com.
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