Friends This morning's GDP release was quite a pleasant surprise. With most analysts expecting a number south of 2% for the 4th quarter of 2018, it was a bit of a stunner that we saw 2.6% growth in the quarter. Even more surprising was how business investment...
Friends Stocks were overwhelmed by Congressional testimonies today. At once we had Michael Cohen testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee, Fed Chair Powell in front of the House Finance Committee, and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in front of the...
Friends An earnings miss by Home Depot and a Wall Street analyst downgrade of Caterpillar shares had the bears licking their chops as the trading day began. But, Fed Chair Powell’s dovish testimony before Congress helped turn the slightly bearish tide and stocks moved...
Friends Stocks came out of the starting blocks with some gusto this morning, buoyed by continued belief that a trade deal with China will eventually come to fruition. But, as the day wore on the bulls seemed to run out of gas and stocks gave up most of their earlier...
Friends Stocks rallied today after yesterday’s modest selloff as hopes continue to build that a trade deal with China will eventually come to fruition. This, despite the continued weakening economic data and another disastrous earnings release from a large American...
Friends A plethora of less than stellar economic data finally put a little damper on the nearly 7 week rally. With interest rates extremely low and the Fed now firmly on the sidelines with regards to future rate hikes, the markets are going to have to decide going...
Friends The release of the Fed minutes was a bit of a non-event, mostly affirming what we already suspected. Basically, falling stock prices in the 4th quarter of last year brought out the doves and caused the FOMC to back off the idea of more rate hikes and even...
Friends Stocks tried to sell off at the opening this morning, but the bears just couldn’t muster very much enthusiasm. Word that the China trade talks are progressing, and a good earnings release from Walmart were enough to spark modest interest from the bulls and...
Friends Stocks continue to push higher despite a lukewarm earnings season, mixed economic data and the political theater that we see on a daily basis. Stress on those who sold in the 4th quarter of 2018 is starting to build. Have they come back in, and if not will...
Friends The stock market is showing some impressive resilience. The bears delivered a haymaker this morning in the form of a miserable retails sales number, which initially did send stocks lower (more than 250 Dow points), but those losses were erased by midday. As...
Friends As old Monty Hall used to say “let’s make a deal”. A nice rally in stocks today was attributed to reports that a deal on the budget seems to have been reached (but not yet blessed by the President), and that there appears to be progress on a deal with...
Friends It was a bit of a tug of war today between the bulls and the bears, as stocks meandered aimlessly throughout the trading session. Pundits continue to be concerned that the economy is slowing and that the rally we have seen since the first of the year has...
Friends Fears of a global slowdown once again sent stocks lower today, but stocks bounced off the lows of the day and the S&P actually made it back to positive territory. It has been a difficult week for the market averages, but it comes as no real surprise. We...
Friends Worries that a deal with China is going to be harder to come by, and likely take longer, helped send stocks lower during today's trading session. Stocks were already under some pressure from less than stellar news out of Europe, where growth is extremely...
Friends There wasn’t much of a reaction in the markets to last night’s State of the Union address. Stocks spent most of the day in the red, but not by much. Volatility has lessened over the past few weeks and it appears market participants are beginning to take a wait...
