Friends  Stocks had a nice day, but were having even a nicer day (Dow up about 194 points) until a couple of fresh political headlines hit the tape. This is the investment world in which we live now. At any moment a headline can appear that jolts the trading...

Friends  Stocks recovered some from yesterdays thumping, but it was hardly convincing. It appeared that there might be some follow through from yesterday's selling pressure, but buyers stepped in early in the trading session and began to buy some of the beaten down...

Friends  Today was the NYSE's 225th birthday. It wasn't very cheery. Stocks plummeted during the trading session as the "impeachment" term was more than casually tossed around by politicians and news pundits. I'm not going to get caught up in all of that nonsense, but...

Friends  Despite more political drama stocks basically just treaded water today. On the economic front, the housing starts number was weaker than expected, but the industrial production number was a bit better than expected. We'll call that a wash. So, the bulls...

Friends  Despite concerns and reports of worldwide cyber- attacks, stocks opened higher this morning and were able to hold most of the gains throughout the trading session. The bulls appear emboldened by the lack of progress the bears have been able to make. Earnings...

Friends  Stocks once again leaned to the negative side of the ledger for most of today's trading session, but as has been the case for a while now, there was very little volatility. The retail sales number was a little light, but not bad, and the CPI number was about...

Friends   Stocks took a stumble in early morning trading as the Dow sported a triple digit loss before a buying reversal ensued. Box and Mall retailers were the victims today after another disappointing earnings report from Macy's. Retail sales are fine, but Amazon...

Friends More headlines and still not much reaction from the markets. Despite the President firing the FBI Director, stocks once again showed little direction. A couple of Dow components, namely Disney and Boeing caused that index to spend most of the day in negative...

Friends The lack of volatility in the stock market is starting to get a little bit eerie. Once again, today's trading session produced very little movement as neither the bulls nor the bears can muster any type of momentum. Stocks did drift to the downside in the late...

Friends The French election results were as expected with Macron winning, and Warren Buffett entertained his followers at Berkshire's annual meeting this weekend, but market participants still couldn't find much to get excited about with regards to today's trading...

Friends Despite a robust jobs report and the House mustering the votes to repeal and replace Obamacare, stocks have done virtually nothing all week. Earnings season was, for the most part, a success, but continued weakness in oil prices and a stubborn bond market have...

Friends Before we talk about today's action, I just wanted to let you know that I will be out of the office for the next several days but Scott, John, Hunter, Barb and Lelia will be around if you need anything, and we'll be sending a brief update each day also. As for...

Friends Stocks drifted aimlessly for most of today's trading session, but things should heat up after the closing bell when we get earnings releases from Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Intel, Microsoft and Starbucks - just to name a few.  Tomorrow morning we get GM, Exxon...

Friends The big news of the day was the announcement of the White House's tax reform framework, and it seemed that market participants were more interested in trying to figure out how a new tax plan might affect them than trading stocks. The market averages were...

Friends Despite the Trump administrations tough stance on lumber tariffs with Canada, stocks enjoyed another nice day. The bulls ignored any trade war signals and focused on good earnings reports from industrial giants Caterpillar and 3M as well as fast food king...