Fed Day
The Fed concludes their two day meeting today with an announcement at 2pm and no press conference with Ben Bernanke. Markets are widely expecting absolutely nothing! No taper, certainly no increase and absolutely not even the hint of a rate hike anytime in the next few years. There is a very bullish tendency for stocks to rally on statement day and we should expect nothing different unless today begins the long awaited pullback. I have written about stocks being tired […]
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Date: October 30, 2013
Rolling Over or Revving Up?
Last week, I wrote about how stocks were looking a bit tired and in need of a rest. Nothing has changed since that piece. The lagging blue chip indices like the Dow and S&P 500 reached higher while the leadership indices like the S&P 400 Mid Cap, Russell 2000 Small Cap and Nasdaq 100 have moved sideways. This is all healthy, routine and constructive behavior that should not lead to anything more than a trading pullback worst case scenario. Market […]
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Date: October 28, 2013
Stocks Growing Tired
With the major indices going vertical since October 9, I am starting to see some signs of tiring. “Tiring” is a lot different than forecasting a full fledged correction or even a deep pullback. It just means that the odds favor either some sideways action to help restart the engine or some sort of mild price decline to shake out the Johnny Come Latelys. During this rally, we saw the S&P 500, S&P 400 and Russell 2000 hit all time […]
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Date: October 23, 2013
Idiocy in DC
I don’t even want to begin to count the hours wasted in DC on the shutdown and debt ceiling let alone what it did to innocent Americans, our economy and our focus as a nation. Yet our elected officials are celebrating like they won the World Series?!?! What an embarrassing mess. White House staffers were quoted as saying they were “winning”. Speaker Boehner said they “fought the good fight”. I am glad our elected officials in DC treated this debacle […]
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Date: October 17, 2013
Another Crossroad for Gold
I haven’t written about gold in a while, probably because it’s been so darn frustrating. And if you ask my thoughts on the metal, they will vary greatly depending on the time horizon. Long, long-term, I believe the secular bull market that began in 2001 is alive, but gold is curently in a cyclical bear market that began in mid 2011 and could last until we elect a new president in 2016 or it could end in short order. It’s […]
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Date: October 16, 2013
Boehner Listened… Kinda, Sorta
John Boehner didn’t call me (he should have) and I doubt he reads my comments (he should), but at least the republicans figured out that their tactics were not working. They may not have unilaterally raised the debt ceiling long-term, but if the reports are accurate, they are going to offer a short-term raise in exchange for negotiations with the democrats on a variety of fiscal issues. As you would imagine, the markets responded favorably although Europe led the way as […]
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Date: October 10, 2013
Never Looked Better
More than any TV segment this year, I thought this discussion was great in letting me comment on the major topic at hand, spell out my forecast and offer some comments on managing money. Also, although I may have looked a bit “stiff”, people say I never looked better! http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2730186363001/what-if-the-us-defaults/
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Date: October 9, 2013
The Administration Who Cried Wolf
With the exception of those directly affected and impacted by the government shutdown, it doesn’t seem like the public really cares. If it wasn’t constantly shoved down our throats by the media, I am not sure most people would even know. From the polls I have seen, the public is not in favor of closing the government as a strategy to forestall ObamaCare, but at the same time, they are also not in favor of ObamaCare itself. So conclude what you […]
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Date: October 4, 2013
Political Posturing Time
The government may be closed but the markets are open for business and apparently not too concerned about the shutdown. This week stocks are down less than 1% and trade as if a solution is not too far off. That’s not how I see it, but what do I know?!?! My thoughts were and remain that if we saw a shutdown for more than a day, it would be a lengthy one that would bleed into the debt ceiling deadline on […]
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Date: October 2, 2013
Oversold and Looking to Bounce
Stocks continue to feel the hangover from the post Fed no taper party as well as Larry Summers stepping aside. While the Russell 2000 Index of small caps briefly saw all time highs today, the other major indices remain in pull back mode. This all seems very healthy and routine and I would expect another leg higher in the bull market after this period of weakness ends over the coming 2-7 weeks. In the very short-term, stocks are oversold and are supposed […]
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Date: September 25, 2013
