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...
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...
Consumer Sentiment Crash It was no surprise to anyone watching the news over the last month that the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May nosedived back to the lowest levels in eight-years, and approached the nadir reached in the financial crisis...
Dark Clouds Descend The stock market’s losing streak continued into May, as the Dow Jones Average lost 0.2%, its sixth straight declining week, while the S&P 500 also fell 0.2%. Once again, the losses were heavier in the Nasdaq Composite and the Russell 2000,...
Technical Turnaround All was quiet on the Wall Street front until mid-morning Thursday when suddenly a nasty selling assault was unleashed in all the equity markets. The S&P 500 decline from Thursday’s high to Friday’s close was a brutal 4.7%, resulting in a loss...
Carnage Continues The market definitely sang the blues as the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its fifth consecutive week of losses, down 2%, while the S&P dropped 2.9%, the Nasdaq slid 3.5%, and the Russell 2000 declined 1.06%. It was a worn-torn Monday And...
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...
Convinced and Concerned For both the Winter Olympics and the market there were many exciting spins and twists during the week, but the stock market took a nasty spill on the slippery ice of the quad combo of geopolitics, economic reports, corporate earnings, and...
Riding the Wave Looking at the graph of S&P 500 last week jogged the memory of a sine wave from middle school math class. A sine wave or sinusoid is any of certain mathematical curves that describe a smooth periodic oscillation. A sine wave is a continuous wave....
All Eyes on Inflation Investors were concerned by COVID-19 related developments in Europe, where Austria announced a full national lockdown due to a spike in cases, and Germany mandated new restrictions for unvaccinated people. In the U.S. the number of daily new...
'Stunning Loss of Confidence' So far 2021 has provided an incredibly smooth ride for investors, but the news flow last week suggested some turbulence on the horizon. The Delta Covid-19 variant cases and deaths surged, both consumer and producer prices spiked, consumer...
What You Need to Know Reflecting on the major market-moving storylines, the classic 1977 Meatloaf song, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” comes to mind: (1) corporate earnings were great; (2) the jobs report was very strong; and (3) BUT sadly Covid-19 cases are surging. On...
Never-Ending Rally Back on Track Despite the scary headlines, the “Fear Index” continues to falter. We concluded last week’s commentary noting that “U.S. stock futures followed the global markets lower over the weekend, and the “Fear Index” (VIX) jumped 6% going into...
Last Week: The employment report for April released on Friday indicated that there were 266,000 new jobs added, versus the approximately one million that was forecasted. Additionally, March’s number was reduced by 246,000 jobs, suggesting that there are approximately...
Last Week: The S&P 500 crossed over the 4,000 threshold on April Fools’ Day to set another record, finishing up +1.14%. Small caps were not joking around, with the Russell 2000 gaining +1.46%, and the Tech sector pranked its detractors by bouncing +3.15%. Trading...
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 Bulls are back, and I am not talking about the Chicago Bulls. The stock market rebounded from its brief slump to post its best weekly gains since November, with the S&P 500 bouncing 4.65%. Small cap stocks continued their recent surge, as the...
Last Week: Cheers! The Wall Street party raged on as the S&P 500 rose 1.8%, to 3824.68, Nasdaq Composite gained 2.4%, and the Russell 2000 surged 5.9%. It was the best start to a year for small caps since 1987 (causing a party on North Star Street). On the other...
Last Week: “Help!” Apparently, our representatives in Washington were unable to “Come Together” and pass a bill to provide the needed funds to give the economy a desperately needed shot in the arm. The damage was reflected in applications for U.S. state unemployment...
Last Week: The wintertime blues seem to be settling in as this very strange year comes to a close. Perhaps my mood is colored by the Chicago Bears' inexplicable loss the previous Sunday, or the grey skies and blustery weather, but the news on Main Street seemed pretty...
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