On Friday, I wrote about the Russell 2000 and what a potential breakout could mean for the stock market. At the open today, this index hit a fresh all-time high. Before breaking out the balloons and party streamers, let’s see if it can close at new highs and not give back too much over the coming days. With the Dow closing above 20,000 for five straight days I will have a new target very shortly that looks to be several […]
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Yesterday, I wrote about the major stock market indices and how the Russell 2000 was finally waking up. Below is an old chart which I first offered in early January. You can see that the small caps have been in a tight trading range all year and are now trying to break out to the upside. With so many studies pointing lower, this is one index which could counter some of the negativity and give the market a little push […]
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Happy snow day to those of you in the northeast! For several weeks, there have been all kinds of studies which indicate that the risk/reward for stocks is skewed to the downside over the coming weeks and few months. The same can be said of some daily studies. When I say skewed, I mean favors a typical and normal pullback of 2-5%. Yet each time the bulls look tired, they somehow prevent the bears from making any progress. In the […]
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Bonus #2 – Inner circle shakeup Given how Donald Trump’s campaign went and how much turnover there was at the top, that theme continues straight to the 2018 mid-term election. At least 3 cabinet members will be replaced by then and another one or two from the rest of the inner circle. Some will be asked to leave while others will become frustrated with either the president or acrimony in Congress. Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Wilbur Ross, Steve […]
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#9 – Janet Yellen reappointed Fed Chair Donald Trump attacked and criticized the Fed and Chair Janet Yellen during the campaign. He blamed her and them for many of our economic woes along with the stock market being on the edge of a cliff about to plummet. Once 20,000 was hit, Trump changed his tune dramatically, exclaiming how great it was to achieve that milestone with more upside ahead. As Yellen’s term as chair expires at the end of 2018, […]
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1 – Donald Trump is not on the ticket against the Democrats’ candidate in 2020 I find it very hard to believe that Donald Trump will want to run again in 2020. While 74 is by no means old, he will have literally done it all by that time. I think there is a binary path to his party’s nomination in 2020. First, things go so well that Trump opts to leave on top, securing his legacy with the country […]
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Very nice day for the bulls on Friday as the monthly jobs report was really the Goldilocks scenario. Not too strong and not too weak. The U.S. saw decent growth with some mild revisions lower but almost no wage inflation which caused expectations for a March rate hike by the Fed to decline to roughly 20%. I would not hang my hat on the Fed staying put in March. There are many data points between now and then and I […]
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2 – Trump and Putin have a falling out This is probably the least surprising of all on the list. One of my theories is that Trump has been so pro-Putin because Obama and Hillary Clinton were such adversaries of Russia. It was yet another good way to differentiate during the campaign. The U.S. and Russia’s interests are so inversely aligned that it would be almost impossible for the two countries not to have a falling out by 2020. I […]
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3 – Moderate Justice chosen for the Supreme Court Whether Donald Trump has a fight with the GOP or not or if the President finds common ground with the Democrats, a moderate Justice for the Supreme Court will be nominated from one of the judges whom the GOP already approved of at a lower court. All indications are that Trump’s first nomination to the bench, due in early February, will have similar views to that of Antonin Scalia whom he […]
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4 – Trump and Chuck Schumer kumbaya As recently as 2011, Donald Trump may have been or was aligned with the Democrats. He and Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, used to be pals in New York City. If President Trump and the GOP have a falling out, it’s very likely that Chuck Schumer and some of the Democrats will fill that void, especially if it’s during a period where a Supreme Court Justice vacancy needs to be filled. If you […]
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