State of the Markets
Thoughts From The Road: The Current State of the Market
Last week, I had the pleasure of driving up California's coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. While the traffic outside of L.A. remains is numbing, the rest of the trek is a delight (if you aren't in a hurry). There were business meetings in San Luis Obispo (an undiscovered destinatio…
Are The Bears Emerging From Hibernation?
For the past four days, this missive has offered up a baker's dozen reasons why it might be time to be cautious on the stock market. It would appear that Thursday's action proved to be an exclamation point on the theme.
The Dow plunged 317 points. The S&P 500 had its worst day…
Four More Reasons To Be Concerned About The Stock Market
Five short days ago, the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high at 1987.98. The move appeared to be a breakout, albeit a modest one, from the recent range. And a great many analysts - particularly those possessing the rose-tinted Revo's - professed that 2000 was the next stop for the venerab…
The Next 3 Reasons To Exhibit Some Caution
Tuesday's stock market action was interesting on several fronts. In the morning, it appeared that the bulls were about to recover their lost momentum mojo in response to a second consecutive monthly surge in Consumer Confidence. But then the politicians started making headlines about new …
3 More Reasons To Take Your Foot Off The Gas
Save the usual intraday algo runs that move the market up and down 1 percent or so just for the heck of it, the stock market has been pretty dull lately. In fact, as defined by the S&P 500 index, the market finished Monday less than 6 points (0.3 percent) from where it closed on July …
20 Reasons To Take Your Foot Off The Gas Pedal (Part I)
A colleague recently issued me a challenge. In short, my long-time friend teased that I needed to remove my rose-colored Revo's, if only for a moment or two, and try to look at the stock market environment from a member of the bear camp's perspective. Although I am indeed a card-carrying …
The Most Important Things To Understand About This Market Are...
This remains one of the most hated bull moves that I've seen in my career. Stocks have been running higher for more than 5 years now and the gains that have been available are downright impressive. And yet, investors continue to complain about valuations, the Fed "rigging the game", the s…
The Word of the Day is 'Improvement,' But...
In the early going, the word of the day appears to be "improvement." China's Flash PMI reading improved to an 18-month high with a reading of 52.0. This suggests that growth is accelerating in the manufacturing sector of the world's second largest economy,…
Quick Take: The Word You're Looking For is 'Resilient'
Current Market Outlook
Perhaps the best word used to describe the current market environment is resilient. Regardless of what the bears throw up against the wall lately, nothing seems to stick. Once again, traders appear to have shaken off the most recent geopolitical issues in …
The Bears Can't Be Too Happy Right About Now
As a card-carrying member of the glass-is-at-least-half-full stock market club , I will have to admit that my bias is to lean bullish when evaluating the market/economic landscape. I learned in the mid-1990's that it was a dumb idea to stay negative on the U.S. economy and/or stock market…