Friends   For the most part, stocks moved higher today led by the Nasdaq which posted a more than 1.50% gain for the day. All eyes will be on Fed Chair Powell and his comments at the Jackson Hole economic conference this Friday. Before that we have more earnings on...

Friends   Bond yields pulled back just a little today which seemed to help keep a lid on stock volatility. Sentiment has definitely turned negative in the past week as market participants are choosing to look at the glass half empty with regards to economic news and...

Friends   Stocks continued to lose ground as the long end of the yield curve continues to drift higher. Walmart had a good earnings report today- didn’t matter. We are in a bit of a good news is bad news narrative at the moment with regards to the economy, as good...

Friends   Stocks continue to struggle in August as rallies are continuously met with selling pressure. Today’s Fed minutes pretty much confused everyone. On one hand the Fed is concerned that inflation is possibly reigniting some, but they are also concerned about the...

Friends   Stocks moved lower again today despite or partially because of a way hotter than expected retail sales number. The consumer appears to still be in buy mode which is more than I can say for market participants. We have mentioned that so far in August stocks...

Friends   It was a pretty quiet day of trading with the market averages leaning higher. This week we will get a good read on the retail sector as we’ll get earnings releases from Home Depot tomorrow, Target and TJ Maxx on Wednesday and Walmart on Thursday. Will the...

Friends   After a PPI number that was a little hotter than expected, stocks moved lower at the open. Buyers stepped in and moved the market averages back into positive territory as the trading session wore on, but by the close the bulls were hanging on for dear life....

Friends   It was another ugly reversal day for stocks. After a benign CPI report, stocks rocketed higher in early trading with the Dow up more than 400 points in mid-morning trading. But as we have seen for the past couple of weeks stocks drifted back to earth...

Friends   Stocks slumped again as market participants brace themselves for tomorrow's CPI release. Interesting data out of China this morning indicated that there is a bit of a deflationary environment there. Whatever the case tomorrow’s inflation data is likely to...

Friends A downgrade of the regional banking sector sent stocks lower this morning but as the trading session wore on buyers did appear and the losses were pared somewhat. Nevertheless, it was another down day for stocks, and it appears we are entering a period of...

Friends   Stocks were able to hold on to most of their early gains today, unlike last Friday. Given that Apple was not part of the advance, it is interesting to see that stocks can rise without a general or two to lead the way. Again, we see the yield curve continue...

Friends   The bulls were merrily celebrating a tepid jobs number earlier today before the rug got pulled out from under them. 187,000 new jobs were created in July vs. about 200,000 expected. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5% while average hourly earnings were...

Friends While the longer end of the yield curve continues to see yields moving higher, stocks are in a little bit of a slump as earnings season begins to wind down. But first we get a look at Apple and Amazon’s earnings after the close today. Apple especially could...

Friends It’s good to remember that stocks can go down too. With the run we have had over the last few months one could hardly blame the bulls if they became a bit complacent. The rating agency Fitch downgraded the debt of the United States yesterday afternoon so you...

Friends   The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 4.1% from a year ago and that’s the lowest annual rate since September 2021. Minus food and energy, the index was up .2% from the previous month. Overall, the inflation gage that the Fed watches...