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Category: Paul’s Insights

Bulls Hanging In During Tug o’ War

All of the ingredients were in place for one of those quick, sharp down days on Monday with a plethora of geopolitical news. From poor economic news out of China to continuing saga in Crimea and the Ukraine to the still missing aircraft, all the excuses were there. And while stocks sold off early in the day, a similar story over the past few years played out; the bulls slowly and steadily stepped up to trim the losses. After four […]   Read More
Date: March 11, 2014

Stocks Looking to Rest

Stocks begin the week needing to breathe after an overwhelming 7 days of news all over the landscape. Last week at this time the globe was worried about World War III but ended the week with a better than expected employment report. The bull market remains old and wrinkly, but very much alive. At this point there are no serious warning signs that the bear wants to come out of hibernation. Furthermore, there aren’t even any warning signs that a […]   Read More
Date: March 9, 2014

Here We Go Again… Jobs Friday

Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were talking about the monthly employment report? Well, we’re here again! With back to back weak reports blamed on “weather”, stocks are set up to rally on a good report that gets past weather and a bad but not atrocious report that blames “weather”. It must be nice to have the “weather” fall back on. I may have to try that with clients. Credit a good quarterly report on our skills, but blame a […]   Read More
Date: March 7, 2014

No More Shush… Emerging Markets are Waking Up

After an horrific 2013 relative to the developed world, emerging markets fell even harder in January. Slowing China. Contagion in the Pacific Basin. Instability in South America. They were left for dead, especially in the media. But a funny thing happened on the way to the embalming parlor. Sellers became scarce even with the powder keg in the Ukraine. Buyers began to step up and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has rallied 8% over the past month. In my 2014 […]   Read More
Date: March 6, 2014

Modern Day Cold War?

Geopolitical news now dominates the news cycle with nothing more front and center than the sudden and disturbing turn of events in Ukraine. It’s hard to believe that after spending $51 billion to showcase Sochi and build goodwill throughout the world, Russia has effectively hit the delete button on the whole winter Olympics with aggression in the Crimea. Is an invasion of the Ukraine next? The odds are probably 60-40 in favor. It’s something that really makes you scratch your […]   Read More
Date: March 3, 2014

2014 Fearless Forecast

It’s really embarrassing that it’s been almost two months since I began speaking about my thoughts for 2014, yet I have been unable to mass distribute them. Shame on me! So far, to those folks who have read them, the comments and questions have been great. Keep them coming! Regular readers of Street$marts and this blog won’t be surprised at most of the forecast, but I did throw in a few new items. As always, I had a lot of […]   Read More
Date: February 21, 2014

Bulls Surprise to Upside

I should probably qualify that title with “me”. Bulls Surprise Me to Upside. After Wednesday’s action, it looked like IF the bears were going turn the tide back in their direction, that was the time. Almost 90% of NYSE stocks were trading above their 10 day moving averages while the vast majority was below their 50 day moving average. With stocks opening sharply lower on Thursday, that scenario started to play out. However, someone forgot to tell the bulls that […]   Read More
Date: February 15, 2014

Bounce and Then Some! Two Possible Scenarios

In the middle of last week, I posted a piece about the potential for a very short-term rally, which you can see here, http://investfortomorrowblog.com/archives/1002. Stocks had come down very hard and very fast relative to what we have seen over the past year. I didn’t believe the ultimate low was seen, but the market could certainly bounce for a few days to a week. It’s a week later now and boy did the market bounce! The NASDAQ 100 even made it […]   Read More
Date: February 12, 2014

The “All Important” Employment Report

Today is Jobs Friday and the pundits are usually out in force predicting the number of non-farm payroll jobs created. That’s one area I usually steer clear of as it is probably the most volatile, inconsistent and unpredictable economic number of the month. What’s even more futile is forecasting the market’s reaction, which is sometimes a head scratcher. Last month’s number was a complete and utter disaster, but the stock market barely shrugged and tested the highs the following week. […]   Read More
Date: February 7, 2014

Bears Take a Breather

Here is the link to the segment I did on Fox Business the other day with Lori Rothman and Adam Shapiro. This pretty much spells out what I have written here regarding my thoughts on the market this quarter. Thanks to Adam and Lori for letting me articulate my forecast. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3151668123001/ingredients-for-ending-a-bull-market/#sp=show-clips Stock market action over the past two days gives a glimmer of hope to the bulls for a short-term rally. I do not believe the final bottom is in as […]   Read More
Date: February 6, 2014