Friends Since the market was closed on Friday, I wanted to check in with you this morning, as stocks will begin the day decisively to the downside. The all-important jobs number was released on Friday and it was disappointing. Only 120,000 new jobs were created, but...
Friends Things got very quiet this afternoon as we prepare for the three day weekend. After continuing the recent downturn this morning, stocks rallied back to even by midday, only to drift for the rest of the trading session. The weekly unemployment claim report was...
Friends The interpretation that good news is really bad news continued today, as stocks sold off early and often. Consternation continued that the Fed may not be willing to provide more liquidity (punch for the punch bowl) and in the first hour of trading the Dow...
Friends Here we go again. I’ll try to explain how this works. The minutes released today from the Fed meetings last month indicate that Fed governors are feeling just a little better about the recovery of this economy. That’s good news right? Well, not necessarily,...
Friends After a very good first quarter, stocks resumed their rise today. After an early morning 50 point dip in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, stocks staged a reversal and by midday were comfortably in positive territory. The last three hours of trading provided...
Friends Today marks the end of the 1st quarter and for stocks, it was the best 1st quarter of the year since 1998. The best performing groups of the quarter were technology and financials. The worst group of the quarter was utilities, which is no surprise after the...
Friends Traders spent most of the morning fretting over a weak close in European stocks, particularly in Spain and Italy. By mid-morning, the Dow was experiencing a nearly 100 point down move. The weekly unemployment claim number was still in the 350,000 area (no real...
Friends Weakness in oil and natural gas, and continued concerns of a slowdown in the Global economy (namely China) sent stocks lower today. The February durable goods report was a bit on the disappointing side as well. When all was said and done, the Dow Jones...
Friends, After the Dr. Bernanke fueled rally in stocks yesterday, trading was somewhat directionless today, until the last hour. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 43 points to close at 13,197. The S&P 500 gave back 4 points to finish the day at...
Friends Dr. Bernanke provided the fuel for a nice rally in stocks and gold today as his comments this morning indicated that the Fed continues to stand at the ready. Every time you think that the Fed just has to be done providing liquidity, Dr. Bernanke assures us he...
Friends The “worst” week of the year (and first down week of the year) really did not end up being too bad. With all the concern over slowing global growth, led by a slowdown in China, the mood was sour most of the week, but in the end the averages really did not...
Friends Ok, Goldman Sachs calls for the dawn of a new era in stocks and we go down for the third day in a row. Thanks for ringing the bell Goldman (you know I love to pick on the “evil empire”). For the second day, traders were concerned over slowing global growth, as...
Friends A fairly quiet day in the markets today, until the last 5 minutes. Stocks were mixed most of the day, but at the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 45 points to close at 13,124. The S&P 500 was down 2.62 points to close at 1402.90 (it would be...
Friends Stocks sold off a bit today on a report from mining company BHP Billiton that iron ore sales into China have been slowing. Although not new news, traders took it as another cue that slowing growth in China may not be good for the global economy and by...
Friends Stocks had a somewhat quiet day as the only economic news of consequence was the NAHB housing index number (the higher the better) which came in at 28 (consensus estimate was 30). It broke a 5 month improving trend and signals that we are not out of the woods...
