Daily State of the Markets

Where Will The Focus Be?

On Friday, we noted that the S&P 500 had recently experienced two 5-day declines within ten days of the first one starting. Although the number of historical occurrences are few (the pattern had only been seen 4 other times in history) and the result would seem to be counterintuitive,…

History Suggests Bulls May Be Ready to Run Again

Oftentimes it is difficult to step away from the blinking screens, the headlines, and the flow of data long enough to fully observe the "big picture" environment. Such has certainly been the case lately as the focus on oil and what central bankers may or may not do next has dominated the …

Draghi Finally Fires 'The Bazooka'

The focus of the market this morning is easy to identify as all eyes are on Mario Draghi and the ECB. After approximately two years of jaw-boning, "Super Mario" finally delivered on his promise to "do whatever it takes" to get inflation moving higher. The ECB announced an expanded…
Draghi Finally Fires 'The Bazooka' image

Draghi Finally Fires 'The Bazooka'

The focus of the market this morning is easy to identify as all eyes are on Mario Draghi and the ECB. After approximately two years of jaw-boning, "Super Mario" finally delivered on his promise to "do whatever it takes" to get inflation moving higher. The ECB announced an expanded…

Uncertainty Remains The Name of the Game (For Now)

It is said that above all else, the stock market hates uncertainty. So, when one surveys the current landscape, it becomes clear why stocks have essentially been moving sideways for the past two months (with some arguing that this number should be four and one-half). The bottom li…

Can the Focus Move Away from Oil?

For much of the new year, the focus has been squarely on the price of oil. However, with expectations running high that the ECB is ready to launch a large-scale, sovereign debt QE program, the market's focus appears to be shifting a bit this morning. On the oil front, the good new…

Add It To The List?

Apparently investors can now add the state of U.S. growth to their list of worries. Whether or not the worry is warranted will likely continue to be debated for some time. For example, economists tell us there is nothing to fear but fear itself at the present time due to the fact that the…

Swiss Move Surprises Markets, But Focus Remains on Oil

The big news this morning in the early going comes not from the oil pits but rather the Swiss National Bank. In a surprise move, the SNB announced that they were cutting interest rates by 0.50% and abandoning the bank's cap of the Swiss franc relative to the euro. The now 3-year old cap o…

Trying to Make Sense of the Increase in Volatility

If one was out and about yesterday and unable to view the intraday action, the end result of the trading session may not have produced much of a reaction as the Dow fell 27 points, the S&P dropped 5, and the NASDAQ gave up just 3. However, anyone watching the day unfold knows that the…

Is It Time To Fire Your Manager/Fund/ETF/Strategy?

There is so much to keep track of these days. There is the crash in oil prices. The terror in Paris. The political drama in Greece. The unexpected decline in interest rates. Inflation expectations. The QE program in Europe. The Fed's next move. China's new stock market. The global economy…