Daily State of the Markets
Expectations For The Fed's Next Move
The algos, or rather the math geeks that program the algos for the likes of Getco, Goldman, Citadel, Renaissance, and a handful of other banks/hedge funds/HFT outfits that can trade at the speed of light, appear to be a bit confused at the moment. On Thursday the S&P 500 plunged 1.32 …
Did Twitter Mark "The Top"?
After spending much of the week in meetings, airports and rental cars, it is good to be back in the saddle this morning. While business travel can certainly be a chore at times (couldn't the folks at American Airlines have figured out that the plane needed scheduled maintenance BEFORE the…
What Do The Cycles Say For November?
After two consecutive days of declines, the question of the day is if the current rally, which began in early October, is just resting or about to morph into the type of month-long corrective phases that have been prevalent since June?
Since the middle of April, the trend of the s…
Did Bernanke Put The Taper Back On The Table?
It looks like Mr. Bernanke may want to go out in style. Just about the time investors around the globe had concluded that there was simply no way the Fed could begin tapering the size of its QE programs before March or April of next year, it looks like Wednesday's FOMC statement put the t…
If You Must Buy-and-Hold, Be Like Buffett
It is always interesting to review comments of the work that is done under the "Daily State of the Markets" banner. On Friday, the long-standing question of active investing (i.e. employing a buy and sell approach) versus passive investing (buy and hold forever) was explored. And as expec…
Active vs. Passive: You're Kidding, Right?
To be sure, there is no shortage of free "research" available these days. Everywhere one turns, there is a fresh white paper from any number of experts espousing this or that. But recently there has been a raft of papers on the question of passive investing versus active investing. And cu…
Have The Worries Returned To Broad and Wall?
After finishing in the green nine of the last ten days, it wasn't exactly surprising to see the bears attempt to get back in the game on Wednesday and for the stock market to pull back a bit. After all, the S&P had stepped lively to a gain of 6 percent in just two weeks and 11.5 perce…
A Worrisome Sign or Simply Computer Folly?
There are times when "why" the market does what it does may be more important than "what" it actually does. Cutting to the chase, Tuesday's wild intraday action may be a perfect example of this phenomenon as neither the final tallies on the indices nor the intraday chart action itself tol…
The Next Driving Force Could Be: Performance Anxiety
Now that the D.C. drama has been placed on the back burner for a couple months, the intraday algos appear to have been toned down a bit and traders have turned their attention to more mundane issues such as the state of the earnings season, the state of the U.S./Global economy, and the qu…