Friends Trading was very light today as market participants await news from central bankers tomorrow and Thursday. First up is the announcement from the FOMC meeting tomorrow which will inform traders as to any new direction that the Fed may take. Then, on Thursday,...
Friends The bulls tried to make it four days in a row, but for the ninth Monday in a row, stocks ended the day in negative territory. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down a meager 2 points to close at 13,072. The S&P 500 was down less than a point...
Friends Wow! What an end to the week. After three miserable days for markets late last week and early this week, stocks staged a fierce 3 day rally based on the hope that central banks here and abroad are prepared to fill the liquidity punch bowl to the brim. With the...
Friends ECB President Mario Draghi let the markets know that he is prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. Ok then. When his comments hit the wires early this morning before trading began, the futures turned from negative to positive in an instant, and...
Friends Stocks suffered losses for the third day in a row, as bond yields in Spain and Italy spike and domestic economic conditions continue to slow. Today’s report from the Richmond Fed was much worse than expected, showing contraction with a minus 17 number...
Friends Fueled by overnight weakness in Europe led by a deteriorating situation in Spain, stocks were poised to drop right from the start of trading. Yes, after somewhat fading into the background most of last week, the European mess was front and center once again....
Friends At the end of this very busy week for earnings, the takeaways are- 1) Companies are struggling to provide revenue growth 2) Companies are still delivering bottom line results, though not at the pace they have been for the past several quarters and 3) Stocks of...
Friends We got a trio of unflattering domestic economic reports this morning including a weak Leading Economic Indicators number. The Philly Fed number also indicated a drop in factory production, and the weekly initial jobless claims number went the wrong direction,...
Friends We had the second day of testimony by Fed Chairman Bernanke, this time before the House Financial Services Committee, and there was nothing particularly new revealed today. Yes, the proceedings in the House tend to be a bit more feisty and partisan, but...
Friends Today’s market movement was influenced by earnings reports, economic reports and Dr. Bernanke’s testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee. On the earnings front, Johnson and Johnson disappointed slightly, while Coca Cola delivered another stellar...
Friends We received a slew of early morning economic reports this morning, and all of them confirm a slowing U. S. economy. Retail sales for June were anemic and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed weakness, and in fact actual contraction, in manufacturing in...
Friends Fueled by “not worse than expected” economic numbers out of China last night, and better than expected earnings out of J P Morgan Chase (notwithstanding the potential trading malfeasance), traders decided that they were willing to buy stocks today, after 6...
Friends Stocks spent most of the day in negative territory (down well over 100 points at one point), and although the bulls did make a late attempt to get to positive territory the bears pushed them back. A decent first time unemployment claims number didn’t get...
Friends Stocks fell for the fifth day in a row as traders, deciphering the Fed minutes today, decided that there was not enough evidence of impending additional quantitative easing (more punch for the punchbowl). The bears have been roaring for days now, and every...
Friends For the past six weeks we have seen a pattern of lower stock prices on Monday, and then higher prices on “turnaround” Tuesdays. This morning it appeared we were going to continue the trend as stock prices moved higher at the opening and by mid-morning we had...
