Friends   It was a very quiet day of trading as I suspect that many traders headed for the Hamptons on Wednesday for a 4-day weekend. With no new economic data and nothing new out of the White House with regards to the Israel/Iran situation, market participants had...

Friends   As expected, the Federal Reserve did not change monetary policy today. The Fed Funds rate remains the same 4.25% to 4.50% and the Fed Chair emphasized in his press conference that risk remains about equal on both sides of the equation. Remember, the Fed’s...

Friends   The situation in Iran is certainly the main driver of market direction at the moment, but while all that is happening, we still continue with business as usual with regards to the economy. Today’s retail sales report showed a decline for May, but some of...

Friends   While the markets try to handicap the Israeli/Iranian conflict, the Fed has an FOMC meeting this week. We will get the Fed statement and the Fed Chair’s press conference on Wednesday. With everything that is going on the Fed is surely just going to stand pat...

Friends   Given the headlines overnight it wasn’t a surprise that stocks were down and oil prices were up for the trading session. It’s also not a surprise that things got worse as the day wore on given that no one really knows what might transpire over the weekend.  ...

Friends   It was a somewhat quiet trading session, but the bulls were able to squeak out small gains in the market averages. This morning’s PPI number was similarly benign like yesterday’s CPI number, giving the bulls further confidence that inflation is under control...

Friends   A benign CPI number and reports of a trade deal with the Chinese helped stocks get off to a good start this morning. But as the trading session wore on those gains disappeared and the market averages ended the day in negative territory. I think we saw a...

Friends   Stocks were quietly higher as market participants are hopeful that tomorrow’s CPI inflation number will be benign thus giving the Fed a clearer path to eventually lowering the Fed Funds rate. Of course, these economic data points are tricky, so we’ll see how...

Friends   A better than expected jobs number and silence from the President and Elon Musk helped fuel a nice rally in stocks today. The market averages moved higher on the release of the non-farm payroll number showing that 139,000 new jobs were created in May, a...

Friends   While the President and Elon Musk duke it out on social media (who could’ve seen this coming?) stocks gave up early gains and drifted lower into the close. Tomorrow’s jobs report is the big economic data point for the week. Today’s war of words between The...

Friends   Economic data continues to be all over the place with today’s ADP private payroll number much weaker than expected. On the other hand, last week’s jobs opening number was stronger than expected. The Fed’s beige book report showed growth slowing with prices...

Friends   It was a wild ride for market participants on this last trading day of May. Headlines were coming at us at breakneck speed. On the economic front, the personal consumption expenditures price index showed inflation increasing by only 0.1% for the month and an...

Friends   Both stocks and bonds were all over the place today as trade policy confusion clouds the waters. Market participants liked Nvidia’s results released after the market closed yesterday, but Federal Courts challenging the tariffs that the President has enacted...

Friends   Stocks were mostly quiet today until a report this afternoon that The White House told chip design software makers to stop selling into China. That with nervousness about Nvidia’s earnings after the close today put a damper on any buying enthusiasm.   By the...

Friends   Over the holiday weekend tariff tensions between the U.S. and Europe thawed and this morning’s Consumer Sentiment came in much higher than expected. This was all a green light for stocks and the market averages moved nicely higher.   By the close, the Dow...