Tale of the Tape
Good evening everyone and welcome back to the greatest casino on God’s Green Earth, the Stock Market 😉
The market’s moved higher. There isn’t a rhyme or a reason. It doesn’t care about pandemics, or the greatest jobs recession since the Great Depression. It doesn’t care about oil or whatever else you throw at it.
The Nasdaq Composite rose another 0.8% today. That’s six straight green days and the index is now up 2.45% YTD.
The Nasdaq 100, which is more concentrated with big cap names is up 6.5%. Big cap is leading the way and big cap tech is leading the leaders.
Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Google, and Apple were all up and outperformed like no big deal. Nvidia was up 3.3%, making all time highs. Incredible.
Biotech stocks were even better than Tech ripping 4% like they cured COVID. Biogen up 4.5%, Amgen up 3.4%, Gilead up 4.3%, Abbvie up 5%… you get the idea.
On the downside, Energy, Financials, and small-caps were the weakest like they are almost every day.
Here are the closing prices of the major indices for your approval:
S&P 500 | 2,930 | +0.01% |
Nasdaq | 9,192 | +0.78% |
Russell 2000 | 1,321 | -0.63% |
Dow Jones | 24,221 | -0.45% |
All Hail Biotechnology
The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index was up 4%, closing at 4201.88 – a new all time high for the index. This took out the previous high of 4162 that stood for 5 years.
Sick!
Here’s the chart.
And here’s a nice chart that @Honeystocks shared on Stocktwits today, showing the break-out in the S&P Biotech ETF, $XBI. Nice chart, Honey 😉
The Nasdaq is Cookin’
The Nasdaq composite is up 2.45% on the year, while the S&P 500 is down 9.22%, and the Dow is off a whole 15%.
There was a time when people primarily referenced the performance of the Dow in regards to the health of the market. Today, it seems like the S&P 500 has taken that role. We’ve probably already moved to a world where the Nasdaq is the thing – talking heads just don’t know it yet.
Saudis are Cutting Oil Production
Saudi Arabia announced it would be cutting oil production by 1 million barrels per day come June 1. This was a surprise to everyone.
Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the following:
We have to be ahead of the curve. The voluntary cuts will further expedite the re-balancing process.
Saudi Arabia’s crude production is now at its lowest level in 18 years. Here’s a chart via Bloomberg.
Saudi Arabia isn’t the only nation making cuts, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates announced cuts of 80,000 and 100,000 barrels per day.
Despite the cuts, oil closed down 1% on the day. Maybe it will go negative again. lol!
Datadog Earnings
Datadog reported earnings of $0.06 per share beating consensus estimates of ($0.02) per share. Here’s more from CEO Olivier Pomel below:
We are very pleased with our first quarter performance, in which we delivered 87% year-over-year revenue growth. We continue to deliver innovation to our customers, including the recent launch of our Security Monitoring product, as well as surpassing over 400 supported integrations.
$DDOG has been on an absolute b-line since mid-March with hardly a red day in sight. It’s up 93% from the March 16th low.
The stock is now up 47.41% YTD. Peep the chart below:
Design and Climate Change
Architectural Digest had a great piece on design and climate change in its latest issue. The photo below shows a waste treatment facility that turns garbage into energy. Check it out…

Earnings Tomorrow…
Be sure to know when your stocks report earnings. Here’s the full earnings calendar.
Links That Don’t Suck
Ichigo Ichie: Great Post From All Star Charts
Onward to Greatness!
Josh Brown talking with Professor Galloway: Economy vs The Stock Market
What Happens to Stocks After a Big Up Month?
The Grapelord of Napa Faces a Threat Worse Than Plague
Investors Business Daily: Stock Market Update
Power Trend and How to Spot It On a Chart
Jeffrey Katzenberg Blames Pandemic for Quibi’s Rough Start