Friends A perceived cooling of trade tensions with China mixed in with a slight tick up in interest rates was the right recipe for a nice rally in stocks. Again, these headlines are day to day, and not to be acted upon, but for market watchers they are nothing less...
Friends Yields on bonds fell this morning which spooked the stock market at the open, but the bulls rallied the troops and stock buyers appeared and drove sticks higher by midday. Trading was quiet in the afternoon, but the bulls can be encouraged that they...
Friends The President and folks in his administration spent the weekend attempting to do some damage control with regard to Friday’s developments in the market. By the reaction in stocks, it appears that they were at least marginally successful- for a day anyway....
Friends Everything looked to be just fine. Despite the Chinese announcement of additional tariffs (which sent stock futures lower right before the open), Fed Chair Powell’s opaque speech at Jackson Hole seemed effective enough to settle things down, and by about 9:15...
Friends Stocks had a nice bounce back day after yesterday’s less than stellar showing. This morning’s catalyst was more strong retail sales and earnings reports from Target and Lowe’s. Yes, it’s true, not all of retail is doing well at the moment (see Macy’s and JC...
Friends Bond yields fell some today, and then stocks fell some today. That’s been the pattern for several days- if rates rise so do stocks, and when rates fall stocks fall with them. The stock and bond market have been telling different stories for years now, but at...
Friends Stocks had a nice opening this morning and basically held those gains for the rest of the trading session. For the bulls, this was a nice follow through to late last week’s rally. The catalyst this morning, similar to last Thursday and Friday, was interest...
Friends Stocks got off to a nice start this morning and basically held serve for the remaining of the trading session. The main catalyst for the rally appeared to be the slight move upward in interest rates, easing the consternation that market participants were...
Friends Stocks went up today, then they went down today, then they went up today- well, you get the picture. Actually, a super earnings release from Walmart helped turn what looked like a negative open this morning into a positive one. Of course, Macy’s disastrous...
Friends Stocks took a beating today fueled by lousy economic numbers overnight in Germany and China, and a yield curve inversion in the closely watched 2/10 year Treasury note spread. Now, late in the day the actual spread is not inverted (the 2 year is at 1.58% while...
Friends Well, we're off and running on what looks like another challenging week; difficulties in Argentina, plunging bond yields, problems in Hong Kong, plunging corn and soybean prices, and a general negative vibe helped send stock prices down at the open, and the...
Friends How about that! Despite all the hand wringing and gloom and doom, someone decided to buy stocks today. That's right; stocks enjoyed a nice advance, as the bulls seemed to gain confidence little by little throughout the trading session. Yes, dividend yielders...
Friends It is summer, and roller coasters are really popular in the summer. Unfortunately, I’m not very fond of roller coasters, and particularly when they appear in the stock market. Today was a doozy. Responding to tumbling interest rates around the globe, stocks...
Friends When moments like this happen in the markets, it's always good to take a breath and remember what your game plan is and what you are trying to accomplish. To that end, we want to continue to make sure that our asset mix (stocks vs bonds) provides the...
