Friends It appeared for most of today’s very quiet trading session that the drift lower that we have seen this week was going to continue. Indeed, stocks fell in early trading, but as the afternoon wore on the losses dissipated. Perhaps, as we mentioned, the...

Friends It appears that the stock trading community is on an extended spring break. For a third trading session this week, volume has been light and volatility almost non-existent. Yes, we have drifted lower over the past couple of sessions, but more than bears...

Friends Just when we were settling in for a quiet week before the Easter holiday, we woke up this morning once again to news of terrorist attacks overseas. As in these situations before, it is difficult to comment on what happened in the stock market when lives have...

Friends Stocks drifted somewhat aimlessly for the entire trading session today. The lack of volatility and/or interest in getting involved may simply stem from the fact that after the dramatic action that we have seen over the past 11 weeks, market participants simply...

Friends The bulls put a cherry on top of this week’s, and for that matter the last five week’s stock rally as share prices pushed higher right from the beginning of today’s trading session. The Fed’s dovish statement this week led to a weakening dollar, which in turn...

Friends The bulls stepped up in today’s trading session, buoyed by the dovish Fed statement from yesterday, a weak dollar and surging oil prices, and went on a buying spree. Minus a weak health care sector, stocks were up across the board with industrials, materials...

Friends As expected, the Fed did not raise interest rates today. Also, as expected, the Fed dialed down their expectations for rate hikes in 2016. Going into the year the Fed had expressed the notion that four rate hikes were likely for calendar year 2016, but today...

Friends Stocks sold off on the opening of trading, but the bulls regrouped and by midday had stocks trading near the breakeven level. For the rest of the trading session traders seemed to be biding time before tomorrow’s conclusion of the FOMC meeting. On the economic...

Friends With the two day Fed meeting scheduled to begin tomorrow, markets seemed to be in a bit of a holding pattern, as neither the bulls nor the bears seemed interested in making anything more than a token gesture towards today’s trading session. Stocks spent the...

Friends ECB President Draghi threw everything but the kitchen sink at the markets yesterday, but the reaction was very muted. Perhaps market participants had a change of heart. Long Live Central Bank Intervention. Indeed, after yesterday’s collective yawn, the bulls...

Friends ECB President Mario Draghi came armed and ready to today’s press conference, announcing further rate cuts and expanding QE, which will now include the purchase of corporate debt as well as sovereign debt. Like Pavlov’s dog, markets responded accordingly with...

Friends The bulls had the upper hand for most of the trading session today, but seemed to run out of gas in the last hour of trading. A nice rally in oil helped spark a rise in energy shares, which accounted for much of the rise in the market averages. Other than...

Friends Maybe the best way to describe today’s trading was sloppy. After an initial drop, stocks rallied to squeak into positive territory by midsession. But as the afternoon wore on, share prices once again slipped into negative territory and lost ground into the...