Daily State of the Markets
Holiday Seasonality In Play, But...
The seasonality surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday tends to be modestly favorable. While the indices do tend to advance the day before and the day after Thanksgiving, the size of the gains are not terribly meaningful. However, the historical odds do seem to favor the idea of the bulls c…
All Bets Are Off
Any analysis of the stock market action or the macroeconomic picture done prior to Friday morning is likely to be tossed out the window this morning. The bottom line is the action taken by the People's Bank of China and the most recent comments made by the ECB's Mario Draghi now trump eve…
The Bears Are Baffled
The major indices stepped lively to a fresh set of new highs yesterday with the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 all finishing at their highest levels ever. However, as has been the case for much of the year, the smallcaps, midcaps, and microcaps failed to confirm. And while this situation…
The Biggest Surprise Wasn't...
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day Monday wasn't the fact that Japan suddenly finds itself back in a recession. Nor the fact that the Bank of England's Mark Carney began to publicly fret about deflation. Or that Super Mario started talking about QE again. Or even that David Cameron s…
The Future of Investing: A NEW Diversification Approach
A self-proclaimed investing "newbie" expressed appreciation for Friday's missive and the introduction of some long-term indicators that can indeed help just about anyone "time" the market successfully. This particular reader decided…
Busted: One of the Greatest Myths in Investing
When the editor of Benzinga.com asks for something, I usually try to lend a hand whenever possible. Benzinga is probably the fastest growing stock-oriented site in the country, syndicates their content across the web, and partners with the big boys. B…
There Are Reasons To Stay Bullish Here
A month ago, the sky was falling. The technical divergences seen in the market were coming home to roost. Growth was slowing. Indicators were falling. Moving averages were snapping. There was fear in the air. And for the first time in a very long time, it looked like the bears might actua…
Isn't It Odd That...
Although the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indices enjoyed pretty good gains Wednesday and finished at fresh all-time highs, the rest of the major indices failed to join the party. And the NASDAQ, NASDAQ 100, and Microcap indexes actually finished lower.
To be sure …
Is Uncertainty Creeping In?
It's been quite a roller coaster ride on Wall Street lately. Since the dog days of July (7/24/14 to be exact) the S&P 500 has been on a wild ride. In a period of just a little more than three months, the venerable stock market index has experienced a pullback of -4.35 percent, a rally…
The QE Dance Continues
It appears that the dance with QE will continue today. For anyone invested in stocks, this has been a beautiful dance to watch for several years now. It's a bit of a two-step and here's how it works. First, the markets fret over what appears to be economic weakness. This causes stocks to …