Friends Traders had a lot to deal with today. First of all, we got the non-farm payroll number this morning which was better than expected as 288,000 new jobs were created in April. Now, the question is-is this just a rebound from the bad weather related numbers of...

Friends Stocks drifted aimlessly today despite stronger than expected economic data including a surprising personal income and spending number. It seems traders were content to sit on their hands before tomorrow morning’s jobs report. Earnings reports and future...

Friends The Fed did as expected and kept interest rates at virtual zero, and they indicated that they would continue the taper by reducing another $10 billion from the monthly bond buying program. On the economic data front, the GDP number for the first quarter was...

Friends Stocks enjoyed another roller coaster ride today as an early rally fueled by potential corporate mergers, was undermined by a breakdown in the NASDAQ (fueled by another difficult day for the high flying momentum stocks) which took stocks well into negative...

Friends Tensions between Russia and Ukraine seemed to take a toll on the markets today, as traders did not feel comfortable buying into a weekend that could see some political uneasiness. On the economic front, the consumer confidence number was stronger than...

Friends We got earnings after the close yesterday from two tech giants (Apple and Facebook) and we’ll get two more today at the close (Microsoft and Amazon), but despite the good reports from yesterday’s players, stocks drifted aimlessly today (perhaps stymied by the...

Friends Despite the onslaught of lukewarm earnings reports (and subsequent muted guidance by managements in company conference calls), stocks refused to give much ground in today’s trading session. On the economic front the PMI Manufacturing Index came in a little...

Friends The bulls were able to keep the party rolling as earnings season continues. The story seems to be that despite somewhat lackluster results from many of the companies that have already reported, expectations had been ratcheted down enough so that any...

Friends Things got off to a somewhat quiet start for the week as stocks spent the day in positive territory, but with no real conviction. On the economic front Leading Indicators came in a little better than expected pointing to possible accelerating growth in the...

Friends Well, well, after last week’s “correction” stocks enjoyed their best week of the year. Other than IBM acting like an anchor around the Dow’s neck and Google pressuring the NASDAQ, stocks were in positive territory for a good portion of the trading session. By...

Friends Stocks rallied early, and were able to hold onto the gains for the entire trading session. With one day left in the shortened trading week, the bulls have sure turned the tide after last week’s mess. Stocks had already been comfortably in positive territory,...

Friends Stocks seesawed back and forth today as the economic news was uninspiring (the CPI was a little hotter than expected and the Empire State Manufacturing Index weaker than expected) and the Russia/Ukraine news was somewhat disturbing. Nevertheless after an up...

riends Stocks seesawed back and forth today as the economic news was uninspiring (the CPI was a little hotter than expected and the Empire State Manufacturing Index weaker than expected) and the Russia/Ukraine news was somewhat disturbing. Nevertheless after an up...

Friends After last week’s beating, stocks staged a comeback today, as the bulls were buoyed by some decent bank earnings and decided to tiptoe back into some beaten up names. The retail sales number was slightly better than expected so perhaps a snapback from the...