Daily State of the Markets
Traders Have Seen This Greek Drama Before
To be sure, the current situation in Europe has a familiar ring to it. Greece makes demands and threatens to leave the Eurozone. Greek officials make offers. Germany says, "Nein!" Analysts then fret about what could happen to the banks of Europe should the Greeks decide to walk away. And …
None The Worse For Wear?
Everybody knows that the attention span of a Wall Street trader often rivals that of a gnat. Understanding this helps explain the schizophrenic behavior displayed by the major indices since the beginning of December. Back and forth. Up and down. Eight direction changes in two months, with…
Is 'Grexit' Back On The Table?
One of the most interesting and/or maddening things about the stock market is that the focus can turn on a dime. One day traders are focused on the Fed, the economy, and/or earnings, and the next, well, it can be just about anything.
Such is the certainly case at the present time.…
So, Greece is Not the Word?
To be sure, this market has been all about oil recently. While there definitely have been other distractions, it has become quite clear that Wall Street's trading machines had joined the movements of oil and stock prices at the hip. And although one could argue that the dollar and bond yi…
Tip of the Day: It's Still All About Oil
If nothing else, Tuesday's joyride to the upside in the stock market demonstrated that this market remains all about oil. As such, it shouldn't surprise investors to learn that stock futures in the U.S. are following oil lower this morning.
However, there are several other inputs …
Traders Eyeing the Line in the Sand
Although the intraday direction in the stock market is driven largely by algorithmic trading these days and can change at the drop of a hat (which is actually an eternity when measured in milliseconds), the recent price action would seem to suggest that the worries in the market are becom…
The Important Message From Earnings Season
Oil didn't go down. Bank stocks in Greece didn't crash. The dollar didn't make a new high. And rates didn't put in a new low. As a result, traders and their computers in the U.S. had the green light to hit the buy button for much of the day on Thursday.
Yep, that's what this chopp…
Recent Tape Action is Worrisome
Are we having fun yet? If you are someone who attempts to manage risk and/or play the trends in the market the answer is likely a resounding, NO!
What's the problem, you ask? The short answer is the price action has been more than a little nutty lately as the market has been movin…
Stuck In The Middle With You
The question of the day would seem to be if the stock market's fundamentals, which look to be faltering a bit lately, will trump the tailwinds provided by the money printing programs of the BOJ and ECB.
Stocks rallied in front of the launch of the latest QE program as this time, i…