Friends The jobs report was impressive. 288,000 new jobs were created in June vs. the consensus estimate of 211,000. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1%. For all the flack that the Federal Reserve has taken, one must admit that we have been creating jobs in this...

Friends Well after yesterday’s move, trading was back to the 2014 norm, as volume was light, volatility was virtually non-existent and stocks drifted aimlessly throughout the session. This morning’s ADP private sector employment number was much better than expected,...

Friends Wow, the bulls caught the bears flat footed on this first trading session of the 3rd quarter, and pushed stocks decisively higher. After 51 trading days without a move of 1% or more, today’s action looked like that streak could be broken. Well that didn’t...

Friends The final trading session of the quarter was similar to many of the other trading sessions of the quarter- mostly quiet and calm. Stocks spent most of the session in negative territory, but it seemed likely attributable to the lack of desire by traders to make...

Friends We did see a little more volatility this week, but today was mostly uneventful. Stocks spent most of the day in negative territory, only to rally a little into the close. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5 points to finish the day at...

Friends Despite a benign jobless claims number and an OK Personal Income and Outlay report, the bears got the upper hand in early trading and stocks tumbled 80 Dow points as the session began. But while the bears were watching the U.S. lose to Germany in the World Cup...

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...