Friends  Stocks tumbled today as tensions heightened over the trade war situation developing with China. Market participants have been hesitant to buy over the past several weeks, and the developing clouds continue to darken.  The market did recover some...

Friends More retailers releasing earnings including Target, which was really good, and Lowe’s which was not. In addition to news about retailers we got the release of the Fed minutes today and it appears that the FOMC’s biggest concern is the lack of inflation. The...

Friends Mixed earnings reports from retailers failed to temper the enthusiasm of the bulls today, quite the opposite of yesterday. Despite the mixed message from the retail sector, trade headlines or sometimes the lack thereof seems to be much more important to...

Friends It was a somewhat soft beginning to the week for stocks, as more than real selling pressure, there simply does not seem to be much of an appetite to buy. The continuous drumbeat of trade war headlines continues to weigh on the markets collective psyche while...

Friends Stocks were once again confounding the bears after another early morning selloff was erased with a late morning rally. The market averages then drifted aimlessly for several hours before another report (I know, I know) indicated that talks with China have...

Friends Jim is out of the office this afternoon, her are how the markets ended. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 214 points to finish the day at 25,862. The S&P 500 was up 25 points to close at 2,876. Gold was down $10.80 to trade at $1,287 per ounce, while...

Friends Stocks were under selling pressure at the open, but as we have seen for some time now, a headline can change market direction on a dime. News that auto tariffs would be delayed for some months caused early stock market weakness turn into some late morning...

Friends A few kind words here, and a wink and a nod there and stocks bounce after yesterday’s selloff. Though tariffs are ratcheting up and the winds of trade wars continue to build, positive headlines/rumors still seem to have some effect on the markets. But, stocks...

Friends It was an ugly day for stocks. With the chances of a trade deal with China now very slim, at least in the near term, both parties have now switched to imposing greater tariffs as their tool of retaliation. Stock index futures traded sharply lower overnight,...

Friends What a day in the stock market. Stocks tumbled early after it was announced that the new tariffs would be going into effect and that, though talks were still proceeding, any deal with China was far from concluded. The Dow tumbled about 350 points throughout...

Friends Stocks tumbled at the open as fears that tariffs are about to be increased and a deal with China is in peril hovered over the markets. By late morning the Dow was down more than 400 points and the bears were flashing their claws. But, the President once again...

Friends As we mentioned after yesterday’s market dip, we are on headline watch and that a simple tweet can move stocks in either direction. Well, this morning we got the “Chinese want to make a deal” tweet from the President and stocks quickly moved into positive...

Friends Yesterday’s stock decline was met with some dip buying and by the close much of the damage had been repaired. But, the bears had more conviction today, and there was no dip buying to speak of during this trading session (except for the last 15 minutes of...

Friends Today’s trading session (and the overnight futures session) served as a reminder that the markets are at any moment susceptible to headline risk. News that the trade deal with China was running into problems that could lead to additional tariffs going into...

Friends We had another stellar jobs report this morning which helped fuel a nice rally in stocks (how about that, good news was good news). We saw 263,000 new jobs created in April which was better than expected and we saw the unemployment rate fall to 3.6%. Average...