Last Week Although not referring to the stock market, the first line in the T.S. Eliot poem “The Waste Land” reads, “April is the cruelest month,” and thus far, those words are ringing true for investors. Indeed, the month kicked off with the worst weekly performance...
Last Week There were only bulls, no bears, lambs, or lions to be found on Wall Street in March, as the stock market came out as it came in, charging forward. The S&P 500 closed the holiday-shortened week at another record high, and the rally continued to broaden...
Last Week It was chips without any dips as the market snapped its two-week losing streak. The party started Monday anticipating the annual GTC conference hosted by Nvidia, Wall Street’s AI chip darling. The company did not disappoint investors with a highly upbeat...
Modestly Dovish The Fed is still talking (seemingly every day) about when it should cut rates, as the evidence shows that the economy is still holding steady. The suddenly not-so-magnificent Tesla had a bad day on Monday, and Nvidia finally had a bad day on Friday....
Last Week: Insatiable Demand We could call it another serving of chips and dips, with Nvidia providing the tasty chips and dips coming from continued Fed policy concerns. The markets were closed on Monday and treaded water on Tuesday and Wednesday. Still, the major...
Swooped In The inflation data was just hot enough to cool investors’ animal spirits, leading to a modest sell-off in both the stock and bond markets. On Tuesday, the CPI came in at +3.1% year-over-year versus the 2.9% consensus forecast. The equity markets sold off,...
Leading the Charge The good news continued to roll in from corporate earnings and U.S. economic data, somewhat offset by another dose of modestly hawkish jawboning from Chairman Powell and his merry band of Federal Reserve Governors. On the earnings front, strong...
Elite Six Stocks were positive for the week as more Goldilocks economic data fueled investor optimism. Earlier in the week, the U.S. gross domestic product came at a 3.3% clip in last year's fourth quarter, much stronger than the expected 2% gain. On Friday, the...
Pick-up in Sentiment I can see clearly now the rain is gone I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright (bright) Bright (bright) sunshiny day For the past 18 months, the dissonance of a healthy economy and...
Tepid Start Stocks edged higher for the week as tame inflation reports drove bond yields lower and restored investor confidence that the Fed would soon be cutting interest rates. The PPI fell 0.1% in December amid declining costs for goods such as diesel fuel and...
Market Hangover Investors seem to sober up following the nine-week-long stock market party that closed out 2023, as the S&P 500 fell 1.5%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.2%, and the Russell 2000 sank 3.8% in holiday-shortened trading. Declining issues almost...
Conventional Wisdom Twas the week after Christmas and trading was light. Stocks traded higher with a record in sight. The Goldilocks economy overcame the doomsayers' fears. The Santa Claus rally kept rolling right into the New Year. The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, the...
A Recession That Never Was For most of 2023, the consensus amongst the talking heads of the market was that there was an impending recession and that interest rates would stay higher for longer to combat stubborn inflation. On the other hand, the economic data kept...
Clear Path to Cuts The foundation of the bear case for the economy and the financial markets during 2022 and 2023 was the “higher for longer” mantra from the Federal Reserve. In other words, the Fed’s tight monetary policy would lead to a deep recession before...
Long and Winding The S&P 500 reached its highest level in more than a year on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested that interest rates have peaked. “We’re getting what we wanted to get, we now have the ability to move carefully,” which...
Turbocharged The stock market provided additional reasons for investors to be thankful, as the rally continued for the fourth straight week. The S&P 500 tacked on 1%, the Nasdaq gained 0.9%, the Russell 2000 added 0.5%, and all the sectors except Oil & Gas...
Wild Ride We would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. At North Star, we are deeply thankful for our wonderful clients that we have the pleasure and honor of serving. We are also thankful for the potential return to the “not too hot and not too cold”...
Laundry List There has been a laundry list of factors that have heavily influenced the trends in the financial markets over the past few years. Topping that list would be the COVID-19 pandemic and related supply-chain disruptions, closely followed by the increasingly...
North Star's Premise Proven Investors finally got a taste of money, tasting much sweeter than wine, as rising corporate earnings and declining interest rates gave the markets a kiss. The bond market benefitted from slightly soft employment data, particularly...
Margin Call Stocks staged a modest rally on Monday, only to see mounting losses Tuesday through Friday, adding up to the worst week in a month for the market. The S&P skidded 2.4%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.2%, and the Russell 2000 slid 2.3%, with declining...
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