Major stock indices are nearing a record close, with the S&P index previously hitting 6408.05 on July 31. It currently trades at 6422.93, up 49.47 points (0.78%). The NASDAQ index, which peaked at 21523.43 on August 11, is now at 21553.10. This surpasses an earlier intraday high of 21549.73 recorded yesterday. <\/p>\n
Airlines are experiencing a positive day following Delta’s strong earnings report. Delta’s earnings per share reached $2.10, surpassing the forecast of $2.06. Revenue rose slightly to $15.5 billion, exceeding expectations of $15.46 billion. Delta’s shares climbed 9.09% to $58.35, facing previous highs around $58.33. The swing range between $56.52 and $58.33 is a key area, where a breakthrough may strengthen the upward trend.<\/p>\n
Other airlines reported gains as well, with American Airlines rising 9.72%, United Airlines up 8.87%, and Southwest Airlines increasing by 4.3%. <\/p>\n
Apple’s shares rose after a previous dip. Trading at $230, the shares increased by $2.75, or 1.2%, reaching a high of $230.59 today. Since hitting a low and exceeding earnings forecasts earlier this month, Apple’s price surged 14.10%. Currently down -8.35% for the year, it closed 2024 at $250.42, nearing its all-time high of $260.10.<\/p>\n
We see the S&P 500 and NASDAQ pushing to record highs, which supports a bullish outlook for the next few weeks. This suggests considering call options or bull call spreads on broad market ETFs to ride the momentum. The market has come a long way since the rate-hike-induced volatility of 2023, indicating strong investor confidence.<\/p>\n
Delta’s earnings beat is a clear positive signal for the entire airline industry, making call options on DAL, AAL, and UAL attractive. We are watching Delta closely at the $58.33 resistance level, as a breakout could spark a significant new leg up. This current strength builds on the foundation of the post-pandemic recovery, where global air traffic, according to IATA reports from 2024, had already surpassed 2019 levels by a notable margin.<\/p>\n
For Apple, the strong rebound this month shows renewed interest after it lagged during the great AI-driven rally of late 2023 and early 2024. We see an opportunity to use call options to play this catch-up rally, targeting the highs from late 2024 around the $250 mark. However, we must watch for signs of resistance as the price approaches that key psychological level.<\/p>\n
Even with this bullishness, it is wise to protect our gains, especially with indices at all-time highs. Buying some out-of-the-money put options on the SPX or call options on the VIX could serve as cheap insurance against a sudden reversal. After all, the market has not seen a major correction of more than 10% since the brief dip in the spring of 2024, so some caution is warranted.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Major stock indices rally; Delta earnings boost airlines; Apple recovers with 14% surge after beating forecasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}