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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
Date: April 27, 2017
Reality over Rhetoric. Bulls are Large and in Charge
I have long said and continue to reiterate on a regular basis that it’s not so much what the news is, but rather how the markets react. Clearly, the markets celebrated the French election results as the two main political parties were cast aside. Independent, Emmanuel Macron and nationalist, Marine LePen will face each other in a runoff on May 7. It doesn’t matter if you love or hate either candidate nor what they stand for, much like we saw […]
Read More
Date: April 25, 2017
Dow’s March Low Breached But Bulls Getting Ready
There is not a lot different from what I wrote two days ago. Stocks continue to digest, pullback or whatever else you want to call this current pattern of behavior. The only difference on Thursday morning is the one of the major stock market indices, the Dow 30, breached its March low as IBM’s poor revenue number took the stock down almost $10. The S&P 500 is hanging in, but the S&P 400, Russell 2000 and NASDAQ 100 are all […]
Read More
Date: April 20, 2017
Getting Closer to a Bottom
Stocks begin the week on their heels after a relatively ugly day on Thursday. The pullback and selling are not over just yet, but the market is certainly closer to the end of the decline than the beginning. With Thursday’s price action closing at the low of the day and the March bottom only a few points away, I would think that the major indices are heading for a quick trip below the March lows before the bulls put up […]
Read More
Date: April 17, 2017
Banks Looking for a Bottom Amid General Market Strength
With earnings season in full swing and estimates ramped up by Wall Street, companies will really need to impress for stocks to get a boost. Banks are front and center right now. With the banking index down 10% since the early march peak, I am looking for a bottom in this sector and revisiting of the old highs later this quarter. However, the most important hurdle will be for this group to close above the 93 level, which will effectively […]
Read More
Date: April 13, 2017
Two Favorite Canaries Looking Fine
The final two canaries are probably my favorites because I believe they are the most powerful and predictive. In every bull market of the modern investing era, both of these canaries gave 3 to 21 months notice that trouble was brewing. However, that doesn’t mean that every time these canaries warn, bear markets occur. It just means that they haven’t missed any. The first chart is that of New York Stock Exchange’s Advance/Decline Line which simply measures participation in the […]
Read More
Date: April 12, 2017
