State of the Markets
D.C. Antics Aside, The Stock Market Environment Is...
With stocks having been down six of the last seven sessions, it is hard to argue that the short-term trend is anything but negative. The S&P 500 is below its 5-day moving average and the 5-day is now below both the 10-day and 18-day ma's. And with Congressional leaders still miles apa…
Remember, Do Nothing, Absolutely Nothing Until...
In case the action over the past few days hasn't made it clear, traders appear to be implementing an age-old Wall Street-ism right now... "Do nothing, absolutely nothing until there is something to do." Put another way, it looks like most investors have decided to sit on their hands until…
Traders: We Won't Get Fooled Again
With a fifth consecutive down day now in the books, which just happens to be the first such occurrence of the year, those coming to work dressed in their bear costumes were seen rejoicing Wednesday evening. Despite the fact that the S&P 500 is off less than 2 percent (-1.898% to be ex…
Does This Market Have Serious Issues?
Given that (a) stocks have fallen for four consecutive days and (b) there haven't been any clear-cut, obvious catalysts to the pullback, it is probably safe to say that there are "issues" at work behind the scenes. Granted, the decline over the past four days hasn't been severe (the S&…
Putting Fear Back In The Mix
There are times when the market's moves do not appear to have a clear-cut driving force behind them. Monday's decline of about one-half percent was a decent example of this. Stocks fell for a third consecutive session and although the damage wasn't terribly significant, the fact of the ma…
What Are the Charts Telling Us Now?
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. As such, there are times when investors can learn an awful lot about the state of the market environment simply by scanning the charts of major stock market indices. And cutting to the chase, this is definitely one of those times.
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Bernanke Taking No Chances
Ben Bernanke's Fed surprised the vast majority of investors yesterday when the FOMC decided not to begin tapering the stimulus being provided to the economy via the monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and mortgage-backed securities. The move came as a surprise because "Gentle Ben" ha…
Is The Taper Priced In?
Depending on your point of view, stocks appear to be set up to either (a) break out to new highs after today's Fed announcement or (b) dive back into what would then be a very defined trading range. While the consensus among analysts is that Ben Bernanke will announce a "tapering" of the …
Identifying Why Stocks Do What They Do
Ask yourself a question. If the market makes a big move, do you care why? No, let me restate that. Do you NEED to know why? Technicians will say no, as they believe the "tape" and the price action on the charts are all one needs to follow. The macro gang also doesn't spend much time worry…
Has a New Secular Bull Market Been Born?
I had the honor of being invited to present at this weekend's Traders Forum (a trading/investing education event) put on by Trader's Library. What is great about this type of event is the opportunity to interact with both students and fellow investment professionals on the outlook for the…