Walmart Sales Up, Gas Prices Down The stock market rally ran out of steam, as the S&P dropped 1.2%, the Nasdaq declined 2.6%, and the Russell 2000 slid 2.9%. Most of the damage was on Friday, without any specific news to account for the mood swing. Of note, the...
A Million Reasons In her 2016 hit ‘Million Reasons,’ Lady Gaga sings: “I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away But, baby, I just need one good one to stay.” That one line captures how easy it is to find recent data points that support pessimism, and yet...
Grizzly Declines Shortly after we posted last week’s “Where Are the Bears?” commentary, our ursine friends awoke from their slumber Monday morning, mauling investors who had celebrated another record close on the S&P 500 the previous Friday. The twin terrors of...
Transitioning from Transitory to Tactical In our commentary from the week of June 21, 2021, we offered the following thoughts concerning Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s description of inflation as being “transitory”: Poor Jerome Powell probably listens to the opening of...
This Market Does Not Spook Easily October 2021 is shaping up to have more treats than tricks, following a scary September. After a rough start to the week, the market mounted a powerful rally on Thursday and Friday, with the S&P 500 posting a 1.82% gain to reach...
Last Week: In our previous commentary we highlighted the FOMC meeting minutes, noting that “investors will scour the transcript for any cracks in the Fed’s conviction to keep short-term rates near-zero for the foreseeable future.” The surprising dialogue about...
Last Week: The Stock market seems to have become comfortably numb to good news, as equities essentially treaded water despite a plethora of good news from economic data, monetary policy, and corporate earnings. The S&P 500 reached another record high on Thursday...
Last Week: The economic data was fairly consistent with expectations, as the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimate of fourth-quarter GDP increased to 4.3% from the last estimate in February of 4.1%. Personal Income declined 7.1% month over month, after jumping 10% in...
Last Week: The market got off to a nice start on Monday after a weekend of significantly lower coronavirus deaths and bullish economic news from China’s state-run media. The middle of the week was dominated by a surge in COVID-19 cases and cautionary comments from Dr....
Last Week: Despite the general absence of fireworks (Mount Rushmore and other exceptions noted), the market enjoyed a festive pre-holiday rally with the S&P 500 gaining 4.02% and the Nasdaq Composite reaching a new record high. Three cheers for the Red, White, and...
Last Week: Once again the market movement seemed to be dictated by the tone of the trade talks. Whereas there were no actual developments, a Chinese request for “calm” in the trade war and the absence of any inflammatory tweets from the White House combined to lift...
Last Week: Stocks hit new highs, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.86% to finally close above its January 26th top, while small stocks fared even better, as the Russell 2000 surged 1.93%. The often-cited adage is that the stock market climbs the wall of worry. I would...
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