BOB LANG: Good morning, Action Alerts PLUS subscribers. It's September 16, 2022. It's time for our rundown. Lots to cover again today, so let's get started on it.
Markets are a little bit lower this morning, down about 1, 1 and 1/2 %, following through on yesterday's very weak performance. And remember something, if these losses hold for the S&P 500 today, the markets will be down close to 5% on the week. That's a big drawdown for the S&P 500.
Volatility is on the rise as well, too. We've seen a rise in the VIX of close to 5% today. Uncertainty reigns, of course. In front of next week's Fed meeting, will it be 75? Will it be 100 basis points? There's still not a lot of clarity there as to which direction they're going to be going into, but suffice to say the fear is out.
We saw that happen from earlier in the week after the CPI number came out a little bit hot and the S&P 500 fell-- the fifth largest drop in the history of the S&P 500. We'll also get some projections from the Fed next week at their meeting, and we'll see if they end up downgrading the economy and possibly increasing their Fed funds expectations.
Yesterday, we saw the GDP now estimate coming in at-- for quarter three drop to about 0.5% for the quarter from 1.6% last week. So that is a big drop and it puts in jeopardy any growth that might be coming in 2022. Last night, FedEx told us a similar story that slowdown in their businesses is hurting their bottom line. They have earnings coming out next week, but they jumped ahead yesterday and said that their revenues are going to miss and their earnings are going to miss by a lot, and they also guided lower for the rest of the year and they removed their guidance for 2023.
We're likely to see more of these warnings show up in the weeks ahead. Amazon and UPS, which are two names that are in the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, are getting hit on this warning today by FedEx and other names, but that may open up an opportunity for us down the road to add shares in these names on a dip very, very soon but it's just not today. Yesterday, we sold ChargePoint, and it was the number one name in our portfolio. It's the biggest position that we have. And for a really nice gain as the stock continues to surge higher.
This is what you do, though, in any type of market environment, especially in a bear market such as what we're in right now. You ring the cash register and you take profits off the table, period, end of story. We funneled some of those funds, though, into two other names that we like that have dipped nicely, Costco and United Rentals. We took advantage of those recent dips and added some shares yesterday. They're very high-quality names and we like them in the portfolio and want to bulk up a little bit.
We recently sold URI at a much higher level, so we're basically back right into those shares that we sold at a higher price. The technical condition of the market looks ominous. It's hideous right now. And as you know, markets have fallen sharply. Oscillators, though, are not yet oversold, and so we do have some potentially more downside to come into next week.
That 3,900 level, which we've been talking about lately, fell like a hot knife through butter today, and if we close down below there, we could be much lower prices ahead in the coming days. Once that level gets penetrated, we're looking lower to about 3,800, and even beyond that, the June lows. Breadth remains on a sell signal. And again, those June lows, which coming in at around 3,640 or so, which many had said that those levels weren't going to be touched again-- those are certainly very, very real, especially if we get down to 3,800. We're only talking about another 4 and 1/2 % to get down there and see if we can get some buyers picking up the pace at that 3,640 level.
Today's options, expiration. A slew of volume is going to be coming in at the end of the day here, so be prepared for that. What is the big options day? It's a triple witching. And what does that mean? It means options expiring. Index options and options on futures are all expiring today, so it's going to wreak havoc on the markets and volatility and it's going to bring a lot of volume and a lot of big movement in the markets today. And if we end up down today, that's going to probably spill over into Monday and possibly even Tuesday trading, so be aware of that.
And finally, don't miss our podcast coming up on Monday. Chris and I are going to be recording that Monday afternoon and we're going to be talking about things like the Fed meeting, previewing that, some bullpen stocks that we have our eye on maybe possibly bringing up to the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio and some of the fallout from the recent trading of this past week. So that's going to be it. It's going to be a big week next week and looking forward to spending it with you, but that's going to be it for today. Have a great weekend, everyone, and we'll see you on Monday.