Daily State of the Markets
Fair Warning: Things Could Get Ugly!
Let's start out today's oftentimes meandering morning market missive with a question. Is there anyone out there who expects the stock market to decline in the month of December? Well, other than those die hard perma-bears who have a tendency to expect the stock market to decline e…
Taper Tantrums Continue To Dominate The Action
To the casual observer, the decline of 2 points on the S&P 500, 25 points on the DJIA, and a gain of 0.80 points on the NASDAQ Composite might seem to indicate that it had been a pretty dull day at the corner of Broad and Wall on Wednesday. However, once again, nothing could be farthe…
Even the Bears are Bulls... For Now
Editor's Note: Dave M. has asked friend and colleague Paul Schatz to fill in for him this morning and provide commentary on the current "state of the market." Paul is a professional money manager for Heritage Capital, LLC and ha…
What Do The Cycles Say About December?
It safe to say that 2013 has been an interesting year. The bears have clearly been frustrated due to the straight-up nature of this year's move and the fact that the vast array of the negative macro prognostications from the beginning of the year failed to materialize. But despite the big…
One Tweet Was All You Needed
Years ago, when Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) was first starting out, most folks wondered what all the fuss was about. Why on earth would anyone want to limit their communication to 140 characters? In short, most adults probably figured it would never catch on.
Yet, on November 7, 2013, th…
Understanding the Cliché: It's Not the News...
One of the oldest clichés on Wall Street suggests that "It's not the news, but how the market reacts to the news that matters." Cutting to the chase, Wednesday's market action seemed to exemplify this concept.
While large intraday swings in stocks isn't exactly a new phenom…
Big, Round Numbers
The media's fascination with round numbers on the major indices - especially the Dow Jones Industrials (NYSE: DIA) - is one of the great mysteries of the investing game. When the Dow breaks through an important milestone, there tend to be celebrations (remember Dow 10,000?). But whenever …
Does Yellen See A Bubble In Stocks?
Does anyone else find the public's obsession with identifying the next bubble amusing? Almost by definition, a bubble forms - and then ultimately bursts - when no one is looking.
To be sure, there wasn't a public outcry in early 2000 when one could purchase something like twenty o…
What Can Be Learned When The Algos Are In Charge?
The goal of this report, which can oftentimes be classified as a meandering morning market missive, is to identify the primary drivers of the stock market. To be sure, there are certainly times when the drivers of the action are actually quite easy to identify. And then there are days lik…
What Kind of Bull Market Is This Anyway?
It's getting to be that time of year. The time when investors start peering into their crystal balls in order to try and ascertain what might be in store for the next year. While making predictions about what the stock market might or might not do over a twelve month period tends to be a …