Friends It was a very quiet day in the markets today as stocks had a slight downward bias, but volume was anemic. On the economic front, manufacturing activity was weak (Chicago PMI was 56.2 vs. expectations of 60), as was personal spending. Personal income on the...

Friends Considering we had a somewhat disappointing GDP number this morning coupled with a downgrade of Spanish debt by Standard and Poor’s, one would have expected a downward bias to stocks as the trading day began. On the contrary, instead, stocks posted gains for...

Friends Who needs Europe? After a weak overnight session overseas, and our first real earnings disappointments (not to mention another uninspired weekly jobless claims number), stocks were set to have a difficult trading session. Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical, UPS and a...

Friends After yesterday afternoon’s blowout earnings report from Apple, stocks were primed to have a good day today as trading got underway. After an early rise, stocks drifted until the Fed report came out at 11:30, our time, and then the 1:15 press conference with...

Friends It was a difficult day for stocks today as traders were assaulted with bad news from every angle. Europe is just a mess, with politics changing almost daily over there, as unhappy citizens cast their displeasure with the medicine that is austerity. Germany,...

Friends The markets spent all day worrying about what is going to happen in tomorrow’s Spanish bond auction. That coupled with weakness in IBM, after what seemed to be a rather good earnings report (the stock had run up before the report, so a little “sell the news”...

Friends Wow! After a somewhat uneventful slow grind upward in the first quarter, we seem to be back to the days of volatility once again these first few weeks of the second quarter. The last couple of weeks were decisively negative once the dust settled on them, but...

Friends Today was a tale of two markets. On the one hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed a very nice day with the average dancing along with a triple digit gain throughout most of the day. On the other hand, NASDAQ was down big all day long, led by major...

Friends This week reminded me a little bit of 2011. Volatility seems to be coming back to the market as we move into the second quarter. Overnight, the Chinese GDP number came in just a little shy of expectations, but Asian stocks rallied anyway. Those rallies fizzled...

Friends Buoyed by hopes that this evening’s GDP and Industrial Production numbers out of China will show improved growth and positive earnings reports from the few companies that have reported to date, stocks enjoyed a second day in a row of juicy gains. For the day...

Friends After five days of losses, stocks rallied from the opening bell today, fueled by comments in Europe that the ECB would likely be willing to buy more Spanish bonds, therefore providing a needed backstop should things continue to deteriorate over there. Last...

Friends Stocks suffered the fifth day in a row of losses, and today was ugly from the start. Once again, worries about Europe crept into today’s trading as futures actually looked to be slightly positive before the opening today. But as trading began, the selling...

Friends Since the market was closed on Friday, I wanted to check in with you this morning, as stocks will begin the day decisively to the downside. The all-important jobs number was released on Friday and it was disappointing. Only 120,000 new jobs were created, but...

Friends Things got very quiet this afternoon as we prepare for the three day weekend. After continuing the recent downturn this morning, stocks rallied back to even by midday, only to drift for the rest of the trading session. The weekly unemployment claim report was...