State of the Markets
"Dangerous But Necessary"
As we've discussed a time or twenty, the primary objective of this oftentimes meandering morning market missive is to identify and understand the "drivers" of the market action. At times this task is child's play. A piece of economic news comes out and the market reacts accordingly. One d…
Missed Big Gains in 2013? Look Before You Leap!
To be sure, it has been an interesting year in the stock market. At the beginning of the year, almost no one saw gains of 20 to 30 percent for the stock market indices and most macro players continued to believe that the next crisis was right around the corner.
And yet with just a…
The Quiet Period Has Arrived At Last
In case you've been out at the malls and haven't had time to keep up with the goings on in the stock market, it is safe to say that "taper talk" has been all the rage of late. Whenever a Fed official or a piece of economic data suggests that the Fed might need to start tapering the latest…
Goldilocks Lives!
To be sure, the game has become a bit confusing of late. For example, one minute the "good news is bad news" theme is the driver to the action and the next, well, not so much. And for those investors counting on the mainstream media to help them understand why the market is doing what it …
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…
2014: Show Me The Money, Or Else!
With the blue chip indices at or near all-time highs and the year-to-date gain for the S&P 500 pushing 27 percent in 2013, it appears that many analysts are beginning to develop a severe case of acrophobia. Everywhere one turns, questions about the sustainability of the bull market th…