It is often said that “Bull Markets Don’t Die of Old Age.” In fact, it is Bear Markets that kill Bull Markets. What creates a Bear Market is a combination of economic events. Those events are a significant tightening of credit (not necessarily a Fed tightening cycle), a sustained loss of jobs and investor apathy; […]
Monday’s markets traded in a tight range. For example the Standard & Poor’s 500 (SPX) traded in an eight point or about 0.4% range. On an average day, that index trades in a range of between 1.4% and 1.5%. With a quiet calendar for the rest of the week, expect more lethargic trading activity. Significant […]
The only fly in the ointment in Tuesday’s market was the disappointing September Durable Goods Orders (ex-transportation) which declined 0.2% versus expectation of an increase of 0.5%. However, this metric is very unreliable and quite volatile. The only real damage from Durable Goods Orders was a temporary dip in pre-opening index futures, which was quickly […]
Friday was the day we have been waiting for, for several months. It was both absolutely exhausting and rewarding. Of course, I am talking about Alibaba (BABA). The roll-out of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone 6 and 6 plus was just a side show. Recalling Alibaba’s First Day of Trading So let’s focus on Alibaba. As […]
The S&P 500 (SPX) poked its head through the 2,000 level on Monday but closed a tad under at 1,997.92. Just as a matter of course, round numbers for major indexes always attract some technical selling. However, there was less euphoria for SPX 2K than there was for SPX 1K. It has become somewhat customary […]
The market ended up about flat as it possibly could on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrials (INDU) rose 0.08%, the S&P 500 (SPX) rose 0.03 index points or 0%, the NASDAQ Composite (IXIC) inched up 0.05%, and the Russell 2000 (RUT) was the big winner of the day rising 0.36%. The good news was […]
It was only about time until the bears found a “new” “crisis” to make us worry about. This time around it was Portugal’s banking system that sent shivers through the global equity markets. So, the Pavlovian response by traders resulted in markets taking a dive at the open, bottoming in the first hour and then […]
After last week’s holiday shortened week, market participants began to return to their trading stations yesterday and today, although some do remain on vacation. Whereas the unofficial kick-off to earnings season begins today when Alcoa (AA) reports results, for the most part, we kick into high gear next week when the money center banks report […]
A confluence of events preempted me from writing yesterday. Amongst those events was the dying of my beloved HP12C which sent me scrambling to purchase another one for the quarter end. However, I would have saved you time and me effort because my expectations were for a quiet session to end the month and quarter. […]
FOMC Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s commentary sent the equity markets higher on Wednesday. In essence, she removed most of the bearish case for stocks to fall and yields to rise. Furthermore, her commentary on stock market volatility took the wind out of the sails of those who, and in my opinion mistakenly, pray at the feet […]
