Volatility Persists The disconnect on Thursday and Friday between the heartbreaking geopolitical developments and the euphoric reaction on Wall Street was startling. At the close of trading Friday, with bloody battles raging in Ukraine, the major indexes had rallied...
On the Up and Up Inflation looks like it is running, as the lyrics from AC/DC go, “hot” and demanding we “pay the price” for this “problem child.” The stock market finished lower for the week with those escalating inflation fears and related slumping consumer...
Last Week: Welcome to the last week of 2020. One might say it done come and gone, and my oh my what a long strange trip it has been indeed. The fiscal stimulus saga, which first grabbed headlines in June, took another twist as Congress finally passed a $900 billion...
Last Week: The Chicago and Wall Street Bears were both in hibernation as Thanksgiving gave way to winter. I turned off the game versus the Packers last night at halftime. Without Akeem Hicks in the middle, my 18-month old granddaughter Jane could probably gain 5 yards...
Markets: Monday morning Pfizer announced that early data from its coronavirus vaccine shows it is more than 90% effective with no serious side effects. The study should be concluded by the end of the month with the likelihood of emergency FDA approval to follow post...
Markets: What a difference a week makes. A blue undertow (Biden won, but the Senate appeared likely to remain with a Republican majority) swept into the sea of red and turned the market green. Volatility vanished and FOMOTINATE (Fear Of Missing Out There Is No...
Last Week: Mega-cap tech stocks carried the S&P 500 to a new record high, with Apple accounting for 60% of the 0.7% weekly gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.65% and is now up 26.07% for 2020. The breadth of the market needed a tic-tac as decliners...
Last Week: The S&P 500 gained 0.64% to finish at 3372.85, just fractionally below the record close of 3386.15 set on February 19 of this year. It briefly reached an all-time intra-day high Wednesday, before dipping lower later in the afternoon. Both the bond...
Last Week: It is an occupational hazard of the investment advisory business that we are often asked whether the stock market is rational (always an uncomfortable question, but as Hyman Roth said “this is the business we’ve chosen”). The recent disconnect between the...
Last Week: The Stock market suffered its worst losses since the 2008 financial crisis with the S&P 500 plunging 11.49%. The decline wiped out all the gains from the last leg of the rally that started in early October. I’m not a chartist, but it is interesting to...
Last Week: The focus was clearly on trade issues, with bad news bookends from China and Mexico. Early in the week China indicated that it would retaliate to recent U.S. actions by using its 80% dominance of rare-earth metals used in high tech gear. Technology shares...
Last Week: What a difference a month makes. December was one of the worst months for the stock market in history, with December 24, 2018 the worst Christmas Eve on record. Flip the calendar forward, and 2019 kicked off with the best January performance in 30 years....
Last Week: A bagful of earnings, economic data, and tweets, left investors to digest whether these were tricks or treats. By Friday’s close the verdict was primarily treats, as the S&P 500 snapped its losing streak to finish +2.42%. Nevertheless, there were a few...
Last Week: Another record high for the stock market, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.93% and the Russell 2000 0.87%. There wasn’t much news, fake or otherwise, driving the action, and volume was light in the pre-holiday week trading. One might say the song remains the...
Last Week: “TINA”, which stands for there is no alternative (to equities), has been the battle cry for the bulls during this nine- plus year rally in the market. The gamble by the Federal Reserve that pushing short-term risk-free interest rates down to zero percent...
Last Week: Enthusiasm over progress on trade negotiations early in the week, gave way to concerns over a myriad of geopolitical concerns (Turkey, Italy, Iran, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, North Korea), leaving the equity markets fractionally higher by the close on...
Last Week: We are coining a new acronym, “TIDE” (Trade, Inflation, Debt, Earnings), to describe the movement in the market. Trade continued to be a powerful force, triggering a steep sell-off on Thursday as the delegation to China made little progress. Inflation...
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