April Closes on A Whimper

April Closes on A Whimper

Friends Up until this week, the bulls had a nice April going as the rally from late February into March had extended into the new quarter, but seemed to run out of gas as poor corporate earnings and weak economic data appeared to finally break their spirit. Of course,...

read more
Stocks Tumble-Japan/Earnings/GDP/Icahn

Stocks Tumble-Japan/Earnings/GDP/Icahn

Friends Bank of Japan doesn’t deliver! Earnings season continues to underwhelm! First quarter GDP shows little growth! Carl Icahn sells his Apple shares and warns markets could fall! Any or all of these could be today’s headlines, and any or all of them caused stocks...

read more
Dovish Fed Spurs Modest Stock Gains

Dovish Fed Spurs Modest Stock Gains

Friends I’m back, so let’s dig right in. Today was Fed Statement day after yesterday and today’s 2-day meeting, and as expected there was no raising of interest rates and the statement in whole was very much like the March statement- mainly dovish in tone. Could there...

read more
Stocks Tumble-Japan/Earnings/GDP/Icahn

Stocks Stumble

Friends Stocks took a breather today after several days of gains, and it would seem to be an appropriate time and place for a pause. Stocks were back to looking a bit stretched, given the somewhat bleak level of earnings that corporate America has been delivering....

read more
Stocks Climb Quietly

Stocks Climb Quietly

Friends After a quiet opening for stocks, a spike in oil prices and bond yields seemed to encourage the bulls to get back in the buying mood which led to a triple digit gain in the Dow early in the last hour of trading. But in the last half hour of trading, the bulls...

read more
Dovish Fed Spurs Modest Stock Gains

Earnings Showing Some Weakness

Friends Stocks rallied at the open despite dismal earnings reports from the likes of IBM, Goldman Sachs and Netflix, but the bulls seemed a bit weary as the trading session moved into midday. But in the afternoon, the bulls got a second wind and stock prices moved...

read more
Stocks and Oil Recover From Early Losses

Stocks and Oil Recover From Early Losses

Friends The much ballyhooed meeting of oil producing nations in Doha, Qatar ended just as we suspected- with no agreement. Oil prices fell overnight, but recovered a good portion of those losses during today’s trading session. Likewise, stocks sold off at the opening...

read more
Stocks Climb Quietly

Quiet Day But Good Week For The Bulls

Friends Stocks seemed to take the lead from oil this afternoon as both lost some ground as the trading session wore on, but the losses were modest. The meeting of oil producers this weekend in Doha, Qatar had oil traders in a frenzy and many decided that taking a few...

read more
A Day of Rest For Stocks

A Day of Rest For Stocks

Friends With a lack of any real market catalyst, traders seemed content to sit on the gains that they were able to accrue over the past couple of days as stocks drifted aimlessly for most of today’s trading session. The weekly jobless claims number was strong, and/but...

read more
Dovish Fed Spurs Modest Stock Gains

Another Strong Day For Stocks

Friends For the second day in a row stocks got off to a good start and were able to hold onto the gains throughout the trading session. The spark appeared to be the earnings report from JP Morgan Chase which propelled shares of financial institutions (you know, the...

read more
Stocks Climb Quietly

2016 2nd Quarter Outlook

"As we entered 2016 Fed officials were puffing out their chests and declaring that as many as 4 or even 5 rate hikes were warranted for the coming year." Click the link below to read our full comments. 2016 2nd Qtr Outlook

read more
Stocks Tumble-Japan/Earnings/GDP/Icahn

Held The Rally

Friends We finally held on to one today. After days of failed rallies it appeared that a pattern was beginning to develop-up in the morning only to sell off in the afternoon. As you may know, that is a pattern we do not want to see become the norm. Failed rallies are...

read more
Stocks and Oil Recover From Early Losses

Failed Rallies

Friends The last couple of trading sessions, stocks are finding it difficult to hold on to early gains. After a nice triple digit Dow advance in early morning trading, stocks drifted into negative territory by the last half hour of trading. Earnings season officially...

read more
April Closes on A Whimper

Back Down

Friends It is amazing how quickly sentiment can turn. Today’s trading action is the kind that wakes up the bears. Oil prices falling, interest rates continuing to decline (bond prices rise), central banks around the globe in full accommodative/panic mode, fuel a...

read more
Dovish Fed Spurs Modest Stock Gains

Fed Minutes Help Stocks Recover

Friends The FOMC minutes were released this afternoon from last month’s meeting, and despite the urging of a few of the hawks on the committee to raise rates now, and actually a couple of the voting members, it was apparent that the doves (the majority) were having...

read more

Archives