Friends Another interesting day. Stocks once again seemed to ignore the daily drumbeat of negative economic data (today’s being the negative Philly Fed Survey, although to be fair Leading Indicators were ok, PMI Manufacturing Index Flash was too). Regardless, stocks...

Friends After yesterday’s quiet action, we did get some volatility today. After a quiet opening, the bulls stepped in, and in a quick buying spree sent stocks up 90 Dow points by late morning. But as the release of the Fed minutes got closer, stocks gave up the gains...

Friends The markets were open today, at least I think so. In one of the least volatile days we have experienced in years, stocks flat-lined for about 6 and half hours. The economic data continues to deteriorate (now you can decide whether the soft data is due to...

Friends The negative economic data continues to pile up, with today’s Industrial Production number being the latest disappointment (consumer sentiment did however hold steady). Nevertheless, stocks continued to climb (are we climbing the wall of worry once again?),...

Friends Stocks got off to a rocky start this morning as a disappointing retail sales number(perhaps because of dreadful weather throughout the country) combined with a lethargic weekly jobless claims number gave the bears something to chew on as trading began. But...

Friends If you are a bull, you see a day like today and figure that stocks have rallied hard over the past four days, and a little pause in the action, is probably a good thing. If you are a bear you see this short “dead cat bounce” over the past four days as one that...

Friends I think Janet Yellen is still talking. As far as I’m concerned she can keep talking all week. Stocks seem to like what she was selling. Now, what was she selling? Nothing new. The Fed will remain accommodative as long as necessary. The taper will continue...

Friends Traders are focused on Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s first Congressional testimony which will be coming up tomorrow and then again on Thursday. In the meantime it was a very quiet day of trading. We did not see any of the volatility that marked last week’s trading...

Friends At first glance, the jobs report was somewhat dismal, but as the onion was peeled back it looked a little better. The non-farm payroll number was an increase of 113,000 new jobs in January which was much lower than the consensus estimate of 181,000 new jobs....

Friends Stocks enjoyed their best day of the new year today, as early gains were actually held for more than a few minutes and then built upon later in the day. Now, before we get too excited, tomorrow we get the all-important jobs report, and that is likely to create...

Friends Volatility continued today as stocks gyrated back and forth between positive and negative territory. Each economic data point and every syllable uttered by a Fed official seemed to send stocks one way or another. On the economic front, ADP estimated that...

Friends Stocks finally bounced a bit today, a “dead cat” bounce perhaps, but a bounce nonetheless. After spending a short time in negative territory, stocks found their footing and despite some weakness early in the 2:00 hour, the bulls were able to hold onto earlier...

Friends Fueled by another weak domestic economic number, today’s being the ISM Manufacturing Index, stocks tumbled once again, as market indexes are heading for the official “correction” moniker. First, a thought about the recent economic weakness. I know it is a “way...

Friends Ok, glad that’s over. January 2014 was a difficult month. It was the first down January we have had since 2010. One thing we can say about 2014 so far, volatility is back. After dropping more than 230 Dow points by midday, stocks tried to stage a late...

Friends Stocks rallied today, helped by a better than expected first look at 4th quarter GDP (3.2% vs. 3% consensus estimate), and a bevy of pretty darn good earnings reports. Traders seemed to direct their focus away from emerging market currency issues for one day...