Friends   I hope this email finds you well. If you have power and Wi-Fi, you will be able to read this email. Just know that while we have all been dealing with the aftermaths of Beryl, the markets have been relatively quiet. Today Fed Chair Powel did hint that the...

Friends   Depending on your economic bias, today’s government unemployment data confirmed what you believe the Fed needs to do. We created 206,000 new jobs in June and the unemployment rate came in at 4.1%. Is the job environment starting to show a few cracks?...

Friends   The markets closed early today before the 4th of July holiday tomorrow. We will be open on Friday, and we get the non-farm payroll number before the market opens. As for today, it was very quiet as traders and market participants are likely headed for their...

Friends   Stocks rallied again and today we saw a little more broadening out of the move. Fed officials continue to signal that their next move will be to lower rates, but that doesn’t appear likely to happen before the September meeting. Next up will be earnings...

Friends   Stocks got off to a decent start as we move into the second half of 2024 but again in a very narrow manner as small and mid-cap stocks faltered as well as the equal weighted indices. But Amazon, Microsoft and Apple continue to be select generals moving the...

Friends   The all-important personal consumption expenditures price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for the month and 2.6% year-over-year as expected. Consumer spending was slightly weaker than expected, and if Nike’s earnings after the close are any...

Friends   Stocks continue to grind into quarter end, as traders wait for one more important data point Friday morning. We will get a look at the PCE (personal consumption expenditures) price index tomorrow morning, a price index which has been a favorite of the Fed...

Friends   Given today’s lack of enthusiasm it appears that market participants are content to coast into the end of the quarter. The Dow moved lower originally but recovered those losses by the close. Fed Ex moved higher on good earnings, Amazon moved to a new...

Friends   After a few days of fun for the Dow we saw the market averages reverse back to what has been the case for most of the year. The Nasdaq led the way higher today, the S&P did fine, but the Dow moved lower. I mentioned yesterday that I have to see it to...

Friends   While some of the super stars of the past year take a bit of a breather, some of the old guard names in the Dow are helping to keep the dream alive for the bulls. As we have pointed out it is nice to see something other than Nvidia work for market...

Friends   It was a very quiet trading session as the bulls might have finally run out of gas. A handful of stocks probably can’t go straight up forever carrying the market averages with them, can they? It would be nice to see some broadening out with sectors other...

Friends   We saw a little role reversal today as the stodgy old Dow Jones Industrial Average actually led stocks higher today with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lagging behind in negative territory by the close. A little rest for the tech generals that have led the...

Friends   The market averages continue to push higher and for the most part the same generals continue to lead the way. Narrow as the advance has been, it’s an advance, nonetheless. The bulls are firmly entrenched on the high ground while the bears continue to be...

Friends   Stocks started slow but picked up steam as the trading session unfolded. We had so much in terms of economic data and the Fed to deal with last week it appeared early that traders weren’t sure what direction to take. But the narrative still is that the...

Friends   Stocks struggled for most of the day but did finish off the lows. As we continue to hit new highs in the S&P 500 it is interesting to see how narrow the advance in stocks has been this year. The S&P is up about 14% for the year but if you look at...