Bulls Are Resilient
On May 8th, I first started discussing what I saw as a skewed risk/reward ratio with 500 possible points of upside and 1000 points possible on the downside. Over the years when there was a decent chance for stocks to decline, I often referred to it as a window of opportunity that stays open for a period of time before closing. Three weeks after my comments, stocks have basically gone nowhere. We saw a brief dip when the “hysteria” over […]
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Date: May 25, 2017
Missing the Excitement
While nothing has really changed regarding the risk and reward for stocks, the bulls have moved the major indices a bit further than I thought they would after last week’s one day drubbing. Frankly, I thought we would see a few days up and then rollover for another decline towards the lower end of my risk range, Dow 20,000. Instead, the Dow is in the upper middle, giving the edge to neither group. The bears can point to the Russell […]
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Date: May 23, 2017
Bears Whipped into a Frenzy. Half Way There
I find it mildly amusing that after a 3000 point rally in the Dow, bears and pundits have been whipped into a frenzy because the Dow went down 370 points in one day. Talk about overly dramatic and idiotic. The bull market ain’t over folks, the same line I have said every day, week, month, quarter and year since 2009. Disavow and hate as they may, the bears have been, are and will be wrong. Don’t get me wrong. One […]
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Date: May 18, 2017
Impeachment? Another Watergate? What Will the Bears Say Next?
With yet another story “breaking” about President Trump, the markets seem to finally care, even if it’s only a short-term pullback which I believe it is. Day after day, week after week and month after month, there has been an ongoing deluge of negative stories in the press about Trump, whether deserved or not. The markets just kept yawning and moving higher. Until today. I would expect a barrage of impeachment calls and calls for independent investigations, etc. Markets will […]
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Date: May 17, 2017
Reality over Rhetoric
The markets begin the week with little changed from last week. Volatility remains absurdly low, but remember, regardless of what you hear on the financial shows, markets do not go down just because vol is low. And bull markets do not end with vol so low. The major stock market indices are not in sync. The Dow continues in its range but looks to be testing the top of it. The S&P 500 should try to poke above its range […]
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Date: May 15, 2017
Lines in the Sand Drawn
We saw a fairly strong selling wave on Thursday during the first hour of trading. However, by mid afternoon, the bulls stepped right back up and recouped all of the losses before closing modestly lower. Their resilience continues. Given how most of the major indices are positioned, the bulls need to score new highs sooner than later to reset the clock. On the bears’ side, a close below Thursday’s low should set a deeper pullback in motion. That’s the one […]
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Date: May 11, 2017
Bulls Still in Control Over Long-Term
Let’s continue on the same theme I started the other day, risk versus reward. While I firmly believe that the bull market remains alive and fairly healthy, I do not like the risk/reward right here. My view is that Dow 21,600 is the upside ceiling while downside risk looks to be 20,000 or even a little lower. That’s just not the set up you want over the long-term and I think pruning and protecting is the right call here, whether […]
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Date: May 10, 2017
Sell The News
Not much has changed in the stock market since last week as volatility continues to be historically low. While the S&P 500 poked above the recent range on Friday, the rest of the major indices weren’t exactly in line. That’s not a big deal. Small caps looked like they were getting ready to step up, but we haven’t seen signs of confirmation just yet. Two things I did find interesting were the April employment report, released on Friday as well […]
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Date: May 8, 2017
Looking for Mr. Volatility
Greetings from 39,000 feet as I am on my way home from the west coast. A quick visit in Scottsdale followed by my annual industry trade association conference in San Diego and I cannot wait to get home! If all goes well, that was my last trip to CA this year. It’s just brutal getting there from Hartford these days and the NY airports are a mess and awful to get to. The Fed concluded their two day meeting today […]
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Date: May 3, 2017
The Bears Are Wrong
With the French elections going the way of the Euro bulls and corporate earnings continuing to exceed expectations and the high level details of Trump’s tax plan released, the stock market had itself a nice little run on Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday before getting a little tired. What a difference a week makes. The bulls made some solid ground with NASDAQ 100 and Russell 2000 seeing all-time highs and the S&P 400 only a whisker away. The Dow […]
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Date: April 27, 2017
