Thursday Market Wrap and Must Reads

  The only way to end your day   🐂Markets rise Stocks continue to rise as the market weighs the outcome of the ongoing debt ceiling talks. The tech heavy Nasdaq-100 ETF (QQQ) again led indexes higher, adding 1.86%. The S&P 500 Index (SPY) and Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) added 0.94% and 0.6%, respectively. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that he's optimistic congressional negotiators could reach a deal on the debt ceiling in time for a House vote next week. This is a positive sign as the dreaded "X-Date" - or the date in which the Treasury would be unable to meet their obligations - looms as early as June 1. Unemployment Claims numbers came in lower than expected, roughly 11,000 under economists expectations, while the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index numbers, which gauges improving or worsening conditions in the manufacturing sector - came in better than forecasted. 🥑 Walmart beats on earnings Discount retail giant Walmart (WMT) beat quarterly expectations for both revenue and earnings per share before the market opened on Thursday, and the stock rose 1.3% on more than double the average trading volume. Walmart lifted guidance expectations for the fiscal second quarter, to reflect the earnings beat. The company did note, however, that consumers are buying fewer discretionary items, while spending more on necessities such as groceries. As the largest grocer in the country, Walmart is positioned to benefit from this shift in consumer spending, as opposed to fellow retailer Target (TGT), which continues to sell off - down 4% today - after reported weaker than expected earnings earlier this week. Despite WMT shares rising on the day, for devout followers of Kenny "The Warlock" Glick, the stock offered a perfect opportunity to bank profits on his signature trade - the 1-minute multiday VWAP reversal - to the downside. Take a look at this chart of WMT stock from today.     As Kenny teaches in his Warlock's World premium live trading room, WMT stock was primed for a short - when traders make money when the stock goes down - when the stock couldn't get back above the blue line (aka Volume Weighted Average Price) - highlighted by the green arrow. And the downside price target was the orange line (aka Multiday VWAP - exclusive to Warlock's World members), highlighted by the orange arrow. That's a nearly $2 price drop in the span of 10 minutes, which could have netted traders a handsome profit. To learn more about how to capture these kinds of intraday moves for you and your portfolio's gain, tune in after Money Morning LIVE tomorrow at 9:15 AM ET, [where Kenny will be hosting a FREE live trading session for 30 minutes.]( 🛢️ Nat gas rises, alternative investments fall West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil contracts dropped 1%, while natural gas added 10.2%. Bitcoin (BTC) fell 2.4% while Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.37%. Gold fell 1.26%, closing at $1959.80. 👀 Looking ahead After retail sales numbers came in lower than expected - as well as HD's earnings - investors will receive an even deeper look at the state of the retail sector, as Target (TGT) and TJ Maxx (TJX) report before the opening bell. In terms of economic data, Wednesday brings Housing Starts and Building Permits, which will absolutely impact the housing sector - including CJ's beloved ITB. You know where you can find analysis of earnings report, economic data, premarket movers and more? [Money Morning LIVE, starting at 830 AM ET. Be there!]( 📊 Earnings on deck Friday before market open: Deere (DE), Foot Locker (FL) Thursday after market close: Applied Materials (AMAT), Ross Stores (ROST), Farfetch (FTCH) Today's leading sectors: Technology (XLK +2%), Semiconductors (SMH +3.5%) Today's lagging sectors: Biotech (XBI -1.18%), Real Estate (XLRE -0.63%)   Must Reads     The Reason Volatility is a Trader’s Best Friend Surely you’ve heard me say this before… “Volatility is a trader’s best friend.” But let that sink in for a minute, and I’ll explain to you why you should like volatility. [First, let’s establish that there are two different approaches to investing..]( [Continue Reading](     to a friend/colleague](mailto:type%20email%20address%20here?subject=I%20wanted%20to%20share%20this%20post%20with%20you%20from%20Total%20Wealth%20Research&body=The%20Best%20Retail%20Stocks%20to%20Buy%20(and%20to%20Avoid)%20Right%20Now%20%20The Best Retail Stocks to Buy (and to Avoid) Right Now It can be difficult to know what to do any time the market is mostly going sideways like it is right now, but the retail space is even more confusing than usual at the moment. Retail sector numbers are out this week, and they’re a bit… contradictory. Sales are overall up by .4% over the past month, which is positive, but it’s also only about half of what analysts expected. [But if you leave out auto and gas sales, it’s exactly the reverse – sales growth is three times what analysts projected...]( [Continue Reading](     After 12 Years of Ignoring Gold… Three breakout events are quickly converging. Tom Gentile predicts “Gold to $5,000 by November.” He’s already put nearly $1.6 million on the line to back it up. Now, he believes silver, copper, and dozens of miners will follow suit. Tom’s bringing in the foremost gold expert on the planet, Brien Lundin, for the full profit plan. [Join them Now for the $5k Gold Breakout Event.](     Stop being manipulated and make this change now I’m pissed. I keep seeing these emails hitting my inbox from financial gurus and analysts with wild claims about where the market is going to go. And they’re all insane. [One guy claimed that he can buy options on a Friday 100% of the time and get profits the next Tuesday...]( [Continue Reading](     I cracked this AI's trading pattern This week, I’ve been fascinated by a new… entity… called the ChatGPT Fund. Roughly 14,361 investors have poured money into a fund that will determine whether ChatGPT can pick a better basket of stocks than mere mortal money managers. It started buying stocks on Monday – and plans to hold them for a two-week period. So far, the 20-stock portfolio has been trending higher. [Names like Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), and others are ripping higher…]( [Continue Reading](     How Volume Profile upgrades your trading In this clip from the May 18, 2023 edition of [Money Morning LIVE]( Volume Specialist Olivia Voz took a deep dive into volume trading, getting into specifics of her volume profile indicator - [and how she uses them on day to day, overnight, and swing trade basis.]( [Continue Reading](     We’d love to hear from you! There’s nothing more that we value than hearing from our loyal Money Morning LIVE audience! (Especially hearing how much you LOVE the content you receive from Trading Today or [how amazing I was on Warlock's World]( So whatever your pleasure - whether it’s [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [TikTok]( or [Facebook]( - give us a like, a follow, or leave us a comment (or an emoji 💸)! 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