Friends Today we got the final revision of first quarter GDP and let’s just be thankful that it’s the final revision. What at first glance appeared to be a negative 1% first quarter turned into an almost negative 3% quarter with this latest revision. Let’s just all...
Friends Wow, what a quiet day of trading. Stocks just drifted throughout the session. On the economic front, the weekly jobless claims number broke the 300,000 level, as only 284,000 new claims were made. The PMI Manufacturing Index slowed a bit, but was still strong,...
Friends Stocks were drifting along this morning, quietly minding their own business when all of a sudden, around midday, the bears came out of hibernation. The reason for the pullback was attributed to more bad headlines out of Iraq which include bombing from Syrian...
Friends Stocks did actually suffer a down day today. Ok, it wasn’t much and there was very little volume or volatility, but stocks did actually spend most of the session in negative territory. All three of the economic data points were positive today. Existing home...
Friends Stocks will never go down again, ever. Ok, I am just kidding, of course, but as market participants (portfolio managers, pension funds, individuals etc.) sit around “waiting for the next explosion” (a nod to Jimmy Buffett), stocks continue to climb “higher and...
Friends In the aftermath of the Fed statement and Ms. Yellen’s Q&A, traders seemed somewhat uninterested throughout the session today, as stocks spent most of the day in negative territory only to climb into the black right before the close. The President spoke...
Friends Traders seemed relieved that the FOMC minutes and the subsequent Q &A with Fed Chair Yellen produced no real surprises. The taper of QE continues and interest rates will remain at zero for some time. Ms. Yellen didn’t seem all that concerned about...
Friends Stocks drifted higher during the trading session while market participants wait for the results of the two day FOMC meeting. It seems unlikely that anything drastic would come from the meeting, but traders will keep an eye on Ms. Yellen’s press conference...
Friends Traders continue to be a little skittish about taking new positions while the Iraqi situation unfolds. In addition we are waiting on the results of a two day FOMC meeting which begins tomorrow. The result was another very quiet day of trading with little...
Friends Despite continued concern over the situation in Iraq, stocks managed to post small gains for the session as the week came to a close. On the economic front the PPI number was very benign and consumer sentiment came in a little more negative than expected....
Friends Stocks suffered a second day of losses as worries over the deteriorating situation in Iraq sent oil prices soaring and caused stock traders to hit the sell button. Once again, volume was very light, but stocks did spend the entire day in negative territory. As...
Friends We had a little more action today-unfortunately, it was to the downside. Perhaps fueled by the shocking loss in the Republican Primary that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suffered, traders seemed in a grouchy mood today. Stocks fell from the start and...
Friends I see them on TV so I know they’re out there, but all those men and women on the floor of the NYSE and in trading rooms all over the globe simply don’t seem interested in the markets right now. As we have noted, the volatility and volume have dried up as...
Friends To come up with additional ways to describe the lack of interest/activity in the markets right now might require I take a course in creative writing. Once again today’s trading saw very little volatility, volume or direction. There were a couple of speeches by...
Friends How about that? The consensus estimates for the non-farm payroll number were just about on target this time – 217,000 new jobs were created in May. The unemployment rate came in at 6.3%. The fact is, we continue to add jobs, perhaps not at the pace that we...
