***SPECIAL Fed Day Update – Powell Behind The Curve Yet Again – Stocks To New Highs?***
The model for today is plus or minus 0.50% and then a rally after 2pm. It’s a decent signal, but not as good after the bulls rallied stocks into the close. However, any morning weakness towards 0.50% should be bought. Jay Powell and the FOMC are going to leave interest rates unchanged today and likely pivot to dovish with the possibility of a rate cut in May. They SHOULD be cutting rates by 0.25% today and another 0.25% in May […]
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Date: March 19, 2025
“A” Low Has Been Seen
Stocks finally saw a meaningful bounce on Friday. I imagine there were an awful lot of people short the market on Thursday when the S&P 500 breached the recent lows. 90% of the volume came in stocks that went up. Longtime readers may recall that 90% is an historically significant number as it is a confirmation sign of the bulls regaining control. However, before we get too excited that the final bottom is in, this is a process. A 90% […]
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Date: March 17, 2025
Still Not About Tariffs – Zone For a Bottom – Not a Decline To Do Nothing
Stocks continue to correct on a compressed path to what I have been discussing. In hindsight, obviously, we know that this is the 10%+ decline over 7-9 weeks I forecast was coming in Q2 or Q3 and not the mid-single decline I saw for Q1. Nonetheless, it doesn’t change anything in my view nor forecast. If you are keeping score at home, the NASDAQ 100 is down 12% since its last high on February 19th while the S&P 500 has […]
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Date: March 14, 2025
Bulls Need Less Momentum As Stocks Correct Lower
The markets continue to be more challenging to maneuver. Friday was the third time and second Friday during the pullback where stocks sold off sharply and then rallied to close well. The previous two times, the bears came right back to work the next day to thwart the bulls. The bulls will absolutely need to break that behavior for any kind of low to form. Pre-market looks like another ugly morning. And I would speculate that Friday’s lowest point will […]
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Date: March 10, 2025
Tariffs, DOGE and The REAL Reason Why The Markets Are Cranky
Tariffs, DOGE and The REAL Reason Why The Markets Are Cranky On Wednesday we bought EWS, ITB and more FDN. We sold EIS, XLB and some FXI. On Thursday we sold PCY, EMB, some GDX and some XMMO.
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Date: March 7, 2025
***Q4 Client Report***
While many events took place in Q4, none were more important nor high profile than the election. And certainly, we haven’t seen an election more anticipated than this past one. And I hope we don’t ever again although I know that is unlikely. Recall that coming into the election I offered that the single best outcome for your money and the markets was shared power, meaning neither party swept. That would force a number of grand bargains without a single […]
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Date: March 6, 2025
Eggs or Energy?
The S&P 500 is now down 6% on a closing basis and the NASDAQ 100 is down 8%. The opportunity I just wrote about on Monday evaporated quickly that day and we took action in both directions as I wasn’t willing to let small losses turn into large ones on new positions. The magnitude of this pullback is stretching what I expected if this decline was to be the appetizer for the 7-9 week, 10%+ correction I saw coming in […]
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Date: March 5, 2025
Bulls Step Up – An Opportunity Worth Playing
As you know my working thesis has been that the recent mid-single digit pullback is not the 10%+ correction I forecast for 2025. Rather, I thought the Q1 pullback would lead to another rally, new highs or not, that would be followed by the bigger decline. The bulls stepped up in a big way on Friday as they pushed the markets much higher into the week’s and quarter’s end. Sentiment continues to become less bullish which is good for stocks. […]
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Date: March 3, 2025
Pullback Picks Up Steam
It only took two days to know if what we saw on Tuesday was a low or the bottom. Frankly, it really can’t count as either. Since the S&P 500’s all-time high last Wednesday, every single day has seen stocks close lower than where they opened. You can see this in red on the right side of the chart. And most days, they have closed near the low of the day. No one can argue that someone or something has […]
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Date: February 28, 2025
THE Bottom Or Just A Trading Low?
I am surprised at how many questions I received regarding whether the current stock market pullback was the 10%+ correction I called for this year. I need to do a better job articulating my thoughts here. The short answer is I don’t think so, but as we know, the markets don’t care what I think or want. My thesis has always been for an initial decline in Q1 and then a rally which could be to new highs again before […]
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Date: February 26, 2025
