Daily State of the Markets
Looking For Stabilization
With most traders focusing on the important things in life this week, things are fairly quiet in the early going on this Christmas Eve. Perhaps the most important aspect of today is that the stock market closes at 1:00 pm eastern. Looking around at the news wires, there isn't much to repo…
What Do The Cycles Say About 2015?
With the Dow and S&P 500 now back at all-time highs (albeit by the skinniest of margins), and traders apparently following the seasonality play book, the question of the day is, where do we go from here?
The first item of note is that although both of the blue chip indices did…
Can They Be Trusted?
The question of the day (in this business, sometimes knowing the question is more important than having the answer) is whether or not the current joyride to the upside, which has taken the S&P 500 up nearly 100 points (97.91 to be exact) or +4.96 percent in just 3 days, can be trusted…
Everything is Fixed Now, Right?
C'est la vie. Another dip in the stock market has been followed by another violent "V" bottom. One minute the S&P 500 is down 5 percent on fears of, well, just about anything and everything, and the next, the market is back to flirting with all-time highs. That's just the way the game…
Forget Oil, Is It All About Russia Now?
Worries abound in the stock market these days as traders fret about the price of oil, deflation, high yield bonds, the global banking system, the economies of Europe, China, and Japan, what the Fed will do next (and when), and Russia. It's that last one that seems to be attracting the mos…
Making Sense of the Oil/Stock Linkage
If your response to yesterday's trash job in the stock market was something along the lines of, "Wait, what?" you are likely not alone. Tuesday the stock market dove 220 points in the early going and then recovered almost all of it into the close. Thus, it looked like the dip buyers appea…
All Eyes Remain on Oil
The focal points in the market remain largely the same on this fine Wednesday morning. Oil continues to be the big topic of discussion with both the EIA and OPEC reducing their demand forecasts today. In addition, Iran says that oil could fall to $40 or below as price wars take hold among…
The Latest Worries About Oil And...
For a while on Monday morning, it began to feel like the Holidays had started early. While stocks had opened down on some new weak data in Europe, the indices recovered relatively quickly. No, make that almost instantaneously, as the opening down draft lasted a total of two minutes. And a…
What's Your Plan for 2015 and Beyond?
Having attended two industry conferences in as many months, it is safe to say that this remains one of the most hated bull markets in history. About the only good thing anyone has to say about the current joyride to the upside is that prices are at all-time highs. And once that admission …
China, ECB in the Spotlight
The big story overnight continues to be the joyride to the upside seen in the Chinese stock market. The Shanghai Composite gained 4.3% on Thursday, the index is now up over 8% on the week, and is up nearly 20% over the past month. There was no obvious catalyst for the outsized gains seen …