Daily State of the Markets

How Much Have Things Changed?

With the market bouncing up and down a couple percent or more with regularity lately, it is clear that things have changed. Gone is that extended period of low volatility where moves exceeding 1% were nonexistent. No, it is clear that somebody has flipped the crazy switch on this market.

The First Question: Is It Over?

There are two really big, really important questions on the minds of investors at the present time. The first would be: Is it over? The key question here is if we've seen the worst of the current decline or if there is more downside action ahead. And the second question looming for most f…

Is "The Big One" Upon Us?

For the umpteenth time in the last five years, the stock market is scaring the bajeebers out of investors. "This is it," seemed to be the battle cry last week as the bears (aka the Goldman Sachs, Virtu, Getco and Citadel algos) hit the sell button at the speed of light during the last hal…

Let's Review Part II - Is There Value In Them Thar Hills?

This morning, we'll continue our look at the market through the three primary time-frame lenses. Yesterday, we reviewed the action and the drivers from the short- and intermediate-term view. Today, we will focus on the bigger picture. So, without further ado... LONG-TERM (…

Let's Review - Part I

As I have mentioned previously, in March of this year, I accepted the position of Chief Investment Officer at Sowell Management Services, an investment management firm responsible for north of $500 million of client assets. One of my jobs is to keep advisors up to date on…

Can You Say Neutral?

Welcome to the consolidation phase - are we having fun yet? From a longer-term perspective, all we hear from the market analysts these days is that the volatility of the market has dried up this year. There have been no corrections, we're told. The trading range environment is bot…

Rebound in Oil Patch Saves The Day - But Can It Last?

Ho hum. The S&P 500 finished Wednesday's session with a gain of 1.98 points or 0.10% and the illustrious DJIA closed down 0.33 points, which, of course, amounts to 0.00% on the day. It must be late summer, right? Well, as the Hertz commercials used to say, "Not exactly." Sure,…

Bulls Need To Fight, Right Here, Right Now

Paul Schatz of Heritage Capital, LLC is filling in for Dave M. this morning. We are pleased to be able to offer Paul's thoughts on the state of the market and hope that you enjoy his views. After a clear loss to the bears last we…

Recovery, What Recovery?

After being down five of the last six sessions and ten of the last fourteen, stocks blasted higher on Monday. The popular media attributed the unexpected joyride to the upside, which turned out to be the Dow and S&P's best days in more than three months, to the "recovery in oil" and W…

Divergent Behavior

We've talked a lot recently about the protracted period of time the stock market has spent moving sideways. To be sure, the current action feels a bit off. And now there is some data to back up this view. As I reported recently, Ned Davis Research has informed us that the current, tight t…