I Could Be Wrong
On Monday there was a large point drop, but relatively small percentage drop in the stock market. I did not have strong conviction whether that was a few day wonder or the beginning of a mid-single digit pullback. And frankly, I still do not have strong conviction on this. While the bounce in price since Monday has been impressive, market participation has been underwhelming. As you know, I came into this week having raised a little cash and/or hedged a […]
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Date: July 23, 2021
Was That It? Pullback Over?
My, my, my, what a difference a day makes. The stock market went from the world ending to partying like it’s 1999 in the span of 18 hours. Oh how I enjoyed the pundits falling over themselves espousing their bearishness on Monday and turning tail on Tuesday. In my case, as you know, I wrote about playing some defense last week. And we did with some sales and hedging. After Monday’s rout I bought a small cap index, Cathie Woods’ […]
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Date: July 21, 2021
Bears Getting to Dance
The new week begins and the bears are out and about. If you listen to the morning media and pundits, you would think a repeat of March 2020 is here. I always laugh how people report the stock market in terms of points in the Dow Industrials. That’s more for shock value and attention than it is for relevance. Remember, when numbers get big, they sound much more important. A 1000 point move is supposed to happen with more regularity […]
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Date: July 19, 2021
Starting to Play Some Defense
Some of our models went neutral and some portfolios (remember, we have 18 strategies) reduced risk exposure to the largest degree since last September. We did a lot of outright selling as well as hedging on Tuesday, but those strategies are still net long risk. The models did not turn outright negative just yet. And they may not. As you know, while some of the major stock market indices have been making fresh new highs, the rising tide is no […]
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Date: July 16, 2021
Low Stress in Markets But Inflation Report Coming Up
On Friday we had the Dow Industrials, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 all at new highs. The S&P 400 and Russell 2000 were absent. It just didn’t seem like a celebratory day. Perhaps, it was because the rising tide is not lifting all ships as I mentioned on Thursday. But the market is also not showing stress on the credit side either. Looking below at the high yield bond ETF, you can see that it is just a few pennies […]
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Date: July 12, 2021
Lots of Negatives Today – ONE Day Off ATHs
The stock market is looking lower in pre-market as comments about the Fed beginning to taper their $120 billion a month bond purchases as well as added regulations in China are worrying people. First of all, it’s clinically insane that the Fed is still buying $40 billion of mortgage backed bonds each month when the housing market is white hot all over the country. Why on earth does it need support? When I woke up this morning I heard one […]
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Date: July 8, 2021
Stats Say It’s Still Onward & Upward for the Bulls
I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Independence Day long weekend! While Mother Nature certainly did not cooperate in New England, it is still always great to celebrate America’s birthday and all she has stood for. Lots of interesting stats to post so let’s jump right in. The other day I wrote about the euphoric IPO market and some things investors should consider before jumping in. Today, I want to discuss a bunch of really cool stats about July […]
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Date: July 6, 2021
IPO Market Says Investors Are Greedy – Don’t Follow The Herd
June, Q2 and the first half of 2021 are in the books. Boy, as slow as 2020 went, 2021 is racing along. And this is with the markets really cooperating. I wish everything would slow down. I have so much to cover, but not enough time today so I am just going to offer some timely comments about the new offering market. FYI, I did a fun and educational interview on TD Ameritrade Network yesterday on this very topic along […]
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Date: July 2, 2021
Finishing Up June, Q2 and 1H
It’s the last day of the month, quarter and first half of the year. Certainly, do not be surprised to see some portfolio games being played although the markets have been super quiet this month. A week ago I wrote about the strong trend for small caps to outperform large caps through today. As you can see below which is a line of the S&P 500 divided by the Russell 2000, that trend has not played out this year. It […]
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Date: June 30, 2021
New Week
The stock market begins the last week of June with the bulls mildly in control. Don’t forget we have end of month and quarter this week along with many people beginning vacations. I won’t be among them although I do wish them a safe and enjoyable vacation. It has been a fun Q2 and great start to 2021 as the halfway mark approaches. As I have written for a while, I do not sense that the stock market is about […]
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Date: June 28, 2021
