State of the Markets

Tariff Man Set The Stage, Then The Machines Took Over

By: David Moenning

I opined after Monday's "relief rally" that the move had been a bit underwhelming and that uncertainty appeared to have crept back into the market. By Tuesday morning, traders began to realize that Trump may have over-tweeted the trade "deal" and the uncertainty creep was starting to look…

Is Uncertainty Back In The Mix So Soon?

By: David Moenning

While it may sound strange, perhaps the best word to describe the market action on Monday is, disappointing. Yes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 288 points. The S&P 500 gained 1.1%. The NASDAQ 100 surged 1.5%. And oil jumped 5%. Yet, based on the early indications from the fu…

Fears Fading Away As Santa Loads His Sleigh

By: David Moenning

Unless you've been living in a cave or don't have access to a TV, computer, smart phone, or even a newspaper, you likely know that Presidents Xi Jingping and Donald Trump laid the groundwork for a trade deal Saturday night in Buenos Aires. Generally referred to as a "truce" or cease fire …

One Worry Removed

By: David Moenning

It didn't take the news-reading algos long to find what they were looking for in Jerome Powell's speech yesterday. And to his credit, the Fed Chairman didn't make it difficult for either the computers or mere mortal analysts to understand what he was trying to communicate. The bot…

Is Some Hope Creeping Into The Stock Market?

By: David Moenning

Don't look now fans, but there might be some hope creeping into the stock market. With just 23 trading days left in the year, there seems to be some hope that we've seen the bottom of the recent pullback. To be sure, two consecutive green bars on the charts of the major indices do…

2018: A Tough Row To Hoe

By: David Moenning

For most investors, 2018 is turning out to be a tough row to hoe. Suddenly, nobody is talking about global synchronized growth, low inflation, the benefits of tax cuts, and 20% earnings growth. No, all that is now so 2017. Now investors are focused on slowing global growth, rising rates, …

Near-Term: It's All About The Headlines. Longer-Term: It's About...

By: David Moenning

A busy few days of entertaining family in Colorado provided a reprieve from the keyboard and the markets over the weekend. Thus, I'm going to let the indicators do most of the talking to start this holiday-shortened week. Briefly, the question of the day in my mind continues to be…

The Straws Breaking The Market's Back

By: David Moenning

Monday was another volatile day on Wall Street as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 602 points. Granted, problems at Apple (AAPL) and Goldman Sachs (GS) accounted for 170 of those points. And yes, the machines were clearly at work again yesterday - especially in the afternoon where…

Understanding the Current Earnings Game

By: David Moenning

When stocks enter a corrective phase, the main question investors need to ask themselves is, has anything changed from a macro point of view? One of the problems with trying to answer this question is that corrections generally are born out of a period of high confidence and/or co…

Garden-Variety So Far, But...

By: David Moenning

I've got an early meeting (who's idea was it to schedule a board meeting for 7:00am on a Monday??) and I am traveling the rest of the week, so I'm up early and would like to apologize in advance if this morning's market missive meanders more than normal! From my seat, the key ques…