Friends I half expected Fed Chair Powell to conduct his post FOMC press conference from an aircraft carrier donning a fighter jacket, while declaring “mission accomplished”. Indeed, the normalization of monetary policy has apparently been achieved - at least for now....
Friends Although we don’t expect much to come out of this week’s FOMC meeting, it felt like market participants were in a wait and see mode today. Stocks did spend most of the day in positive territory but only modestly and without much conviction. But, at this point...
Friends The fifth time was a charm. After 5 tries since the 4th quarter of last year, the bulls finally penetrated the 2800 (2815 level to be exact) on the S&P, and were able hold it into the close. The economic data was mixed with consumer confidence and job...
Friends It was an extremely quiet trading session today. Without any catalyst in either direction, stocks simply hovered around the breakeven level and showed little conviction. Brexit, a China trade deal, political intrigue- nothing seems to be affecting the markets...
Friends It is somewhat fascinating after last week's market doldrums and the fact that the market has lost one of its leaders that stocks continue to tack on gains for the week. Speaking of lost leaders, the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max airliners put more pressure on...
Friends The Dow Jones Industrial Average endured an auspicious start to the trading session this morning as one of its major components (Boeing) came under heavy selling pressure. As you likely know by now, Boeing’s 737 Max -8 has now had two deadly crashes lately,...
Friends 10 years ago today (actually March 9th 2009) in the midst of the great financial crisis, stocks finally bottomed after a more than 50% drop in a year and a half. At that moment it was the second more than 50% drop in the stock market in less than 10 years. I...
Friends Stocks continue to slide in today’s trading as concerns about slowing economies around the globe mount. Sure, central banks are ready and willing to continue the easy money policies of the past 10 years, but the worry is that we will continue to experience...
Friends Stocks traded quietly today with very little conviction. The economic data was fine with a good ISM non-manufacturing number and a decent PMI Services Index number, while new home sales were better than expected-aided by lower mortgage rates. Nevertheless,...
Friends The bears seemed to have been awakened from a multi month nap this morning, ironically after an early rally at the open. The Dow had been up triple digits before a plague descended upon the markets and by midday the Dow was sporting a 400 plus point loss. Some...
Friends Contrary to yesterday's positive economic news, today we got less than stellar data including a weakening ISM Manufacturing number and slightly disappointing Consumer Sentiment number. The Bulls were not deterred as stocks gained more than 200 Dow points at...
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...
