Friends Today was full of economic data points and market directional changes. Before the open, we got a stronger than expected ADP employment number with 200,000 new private sector jobs having been created in June. Just after that we got our first look at 2ndquarter...

Friends It was a rather mixed and confusing day in the stock market. Fueled by an impressive Case-Shiller report indicating that home prices are still on the rise nationwide, stocks got off to a nice start with the Dow sporting a 50 point gain in early trading. By...

Friends Today’s pending home sales numbers indicated that rising home prices and rising mortgage rates are beginning to curb the sales of existing homes in the U.S.  That number along with a weaker than expected Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey number contributed to a...

Friends Today’s stock action was a little more dynamic than most of the week. We saw our only triple digit move this week as the Dow fell more than 150 points by late morning trading. The better than expected consumer sentiment number didn’t deter traders from selling...

Friends Traders were trying to determine where to take their cues today as the domestic economic news was good (durable goods number better than expected and the weekly jobless claims about in line), but the earnings parade was somewhat mixed. The star of the day was...

Friends As earnings reports keep coming, traders seem somewhat uninterested. Yes, for the most part companies are doing just fine, but top line revenue growth is once again difficult to find. Corporate managements are squeezing everything they can out of margins, but...

Friends Despite or because of a very nice new home sales number, stocks had a difficult time today. Earnings overnight were mixed, with Apple, Ford and Boeing actually doing better than expected, and Caterpillar laying an egg, but stocks began to fall after the new...

Friends Once again, earnings reports were mixed, but the stock weighing most on the Dow Jones Industrial Average was McDonald’s Corp. which single handedly kept the Dow out of positive territory most of the day. The fast food giant disappointed the street with a...

Friends While the business news stations blabber on about a large hedge fund manager being charged by the SEC, let’s talk about earnings season. Today’s releases were a good microcosm of the past two weeks of earnings. We got good reports from the likes of General...

Friends Stocks spent the whole day in positive territory buoyed by good economic news including an impressive weekly jobless claims number, as well as a much better than expected Philly Fed index number (indicating an improving manufacturing sector). Once again, it...

Friends Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke continued, during his testimony today, to attempt to convince market participants that tapering (he never used the word today) is not tightening or changing Fed monetary policy. He seems, at least for today, to have...

Friends Market participants seemed to be content to wait on the plethora of earnings releases that we will receive this week, as well as testimony of Fed Chairman Bernanke before the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday. On the economic front the Retail Sales...

Friends Spurred on by what the market interpreted as dovish comments by Dr. Bernanke in a question and answer setting after the market closed yesterday, stocks rallied and added to their gains as the session wore on. Though previous comments from the Fed really were...