In Wednesday’s pre-market update, Stephen Whiteside from TheUpTrend.com highlighted a soft open for U.S. markets, with the Nasdaq leading the decline ahead of Fed minutes. Palantir dragged the Nasdaq lower after generating a sell signal, while the Dow and transports showed relative strength. Most S\&P sectors closed higher, but big-cap tech weighed heavily, with Infotech and communications leading losses. In Canada, it was a quiet session with Industrials leading the way thanks to TFI, while materials and mining stocks—especially Denison and gold miners—suffered sharp pullbacks.
Volatility measures showed traders growing cautious, with the Russell 2000 VIX back on a buy signal. Bitcoin remains weak, holding near key support levels, while crypto-related stocks posted mixed results. Big-cap Canadian names like CN Rail moved back onto buy signals, while U.S. tech giants like Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft, and Meta slipped back to sell signals. Meanwhile, Intel hit a fresh high, and Amazon held its buy signal. Whiteside cautioned that further weakness in big tech could weigh on the indices broadly, even if many other sectors remain resilient.
Stephen Whiteside
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
