Lots of New Highs as the Grinding Continues
After some fresh all-time highs in the S&P 500, S&P 400 and Russell 2000, stocks have been resting although the path of least resistance is higher, more in grinding fashion than explosive. Index leadership is good. Sector leadership isn’t bad. Junk bonds have defied my forecast that they saw their bull market peak 8 months ago and powered ahead to score a fresh, all-time high. Score another positive for the bulls. The all-important NYSE A/D Line continues to make new, […]
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Date: August 24, 2018
Manafort, Cohen Guilty but Reality over Rhetoric
On Tuesday the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 hit fresh all-time highs although without strong conviction. The three indices are not far behind although the Dow may take a little longer. All is good on that front. Banks are perking up and as I mentioned the other day, the semis look to have bottomed. Discretionary hit an all time high as did the transports in somewhat of a quiet surprise. All is good on the sector front for the most […]
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Date: August 22, 2018
Dollar Still King, Gold Garbage and Stocks Moving
What a change with the Dow Jones Industrials leading stocks higher. It felt like yesterday that Turkey was going down and about to take the whole world with her. Turkey remains an issue as does the emerging markets complex or at least those countries which have borrowed too much money denominated in dollars. With the dollar’s recent resurgence those debts are more expensive to pay when your own local currency declines. Anyway, that’s a big picture problem that’s only going […]
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Date: August 20, 2018
Turkey Burgers, US Dollar & Gold
Turkey this, Erdogan that. I would bet that the vast majority of Americans have absolutely no idea where Turkey is on a map. But, that country is in almost every financial story this week. Seeing the name so much subliminally made me order a turkey burger for lunch today! While stocks are beginning the day much lower, I think the news about a Chinese economic slowdown may be more important. In any case, as we know, stocks can never just […]
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Date: August 15, 2018
All Eyes on Turkey. LOL
The bulls had their wings clipped on Friday, making it three straight down days for stocks although the bears haven’t made much progress just yet. The macro concern right now is the collapse in the Turkish Lira. Similar to Greece and Cyprus, Turkey by itself has the economic output of Connecticut and the world really doesn’t care what some crazy dictator does to his country, per se. However, any time there is a crisis in the emerging markets complex, two […]
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Date: August 13, 2018
Sell Facebook. Bull Market Peak Likely In
After writing about beloved tech giant, Apple, for so long, I thought I would keep it going and turn to another overly owned and loved FAANG stock, Facebook. As you know Facebook has had its share of triumphs, trials and tribulations since its infamous 2012 IPO, but mostly troubles this year with the personal information collection scandal at Cambridge Analytica. For those who invested in Facebook at the opening price in 2012, you endured incredible pain as the stock plummeted […]
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Date: August 8, 2018
Bull Markets Do NOT End Like This
Quick update as I am trying to get a full Street$marts out today or tomorrow. The theme remains the almost same. I thought a modest pullback would materialize and take the major indices below last week’s low. However, as I mentioned on Friday, the bulls put in a strong performance, like the Red Sox did over my Yankees, and took control from the bears on Thursday. That strength continues today with the S&P 400 and NASDAQ 100 leading with the […]
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Date: August 7, 2018
Bulls Cede Control But Lows Not In Yet
So much to discuss, too little space on the blog. I know. I know. I need to do a full Street$marts which I promise to bang out shortly. First, Fed statement day actually worked out okay as the market stayed in a tight range as forecast until 2pm and then rallied modestly into the close. Not a huge winner, but a win is a win and it kept the almost 80% accuracy rate going. Apple is now a trillion dollar […]
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Date: August 3, 2018
***SPECIAL Fed Update – It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This***
Stock Market Behavior Models for the Day As with every Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement day, there is a model for the stock market to follow pre and post announcement. Certain environments have very strong tendencies while others do not. Over the past few meetings, many of the strongest trends were muted but today is at least a little different. As with most statement days, the model for the day calls for stocks to return plus or minus 0.50% […]
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Date: August 1, 2018
Turnaround Tuesday, Apple and Gold
When stocks are in decline, there is an historical trend after a down Monday for stocks to reverse on Tuesday. As the theory goes, sellers hit the market on Thursday, try to rally on Friday which ultimately fails and then spend the weekend reading negative press about the market. On Monday, there is more selling to get the last seller completed. From there, some kind of bounce or real rally begins on Tuesday. While the rationale is a bit shaky, […]
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Date: July 31, 2018
Selling the News
On Friday, I wrote about the strong GDP report and given the market’s rally into the number, I wouldn’t be surprised to see sellers come into stocks but buyers into the bond market. While bonds jumped up at the open, they very slowly eroded some of those gains during the day in a quiet session. Stocks, on the other hand, opened up with some small gains before being swamped by sellers the rest of the morning, perfectly epitomizing “sell the […]
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Date: July 30, 2018
Q2 GDP Surges, But, But, But
Preliminary Q2 GDP came in at +4.1% this morning, right in the middle of my range. While the majority “expected” this accelerating growth, that was only in recent history, meaning everyone ramped up their forecasts lately. As I saw the number print, I thought that there would be no way for the naysayers and negative media folks to spin this against the strength that it is. But yes, they surprised me again with a chorus of “yeah, but”. I heard […]
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Date: July 27, 2018
Bears Have the Ball
For the past week or so, I have shared some minor stock market concerns, but also opined that it looked like the major stock market indices were going to make new highs for July before any downside was forthcoming. On Tuesday, all five major indices scored new highs for July right at the open ad then steadily eroded those gains throughout the day. All except for the Dow Industrials which continues to establish leadership. The S&P 400 and Russell 2000 […]
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Date: July 25, 2018
Bulls Should Push For One More High. Gold Becoming Interesting
About the only thing of significance from Friday’s action was the increase in volume in stocks going down. That’s a new short-term development. And while my short-term model is negative, stocks still do not have the appearance of anything major on the downside. Moreover, I would not be surprised if the bulls gather themselves and assault the highs one more time before a deeper pullback. Banks and transports have been acting more constructively to take some of the burden off […]
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Date: July 23, 2018
Bulls Won’t Go Down Without a Fight
As I wrote the other day regarding the dramatic reversal in the NASDAQ 100, this bull market is not going to die easily nor without a fight. Even pullbacks and corrections have been and will be tough to come by. As I have seen a few small short-term concerns pop up, I still believe the bulls are going to fight hard to prevent any significant price damage. As I am keenly watching for signs of even a short-term peak, the […]
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Date: July 20, 2018
Technology Reversal. WOW!
After Monday’s close, highflying FAANG stock, Netflix, reported very disappointing subscriber growth. It was a shocker. The company’s stock plummeted after hours, over night, pre-market and as stocks opened Tuesday morning to the tune of 15%. 15%! That’s almost a crash. The tech-laden NASDAQ 100 followed suit and the selling spilled over into the broad market as you would expect. Analyst after analyst and pundit after pundit uniformly poured ice cold water on the technology sector with the most positive […]
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Date: July 18, 2018
Market May Need Some Help from Banks
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I wasn’t enthralled with Friday’s session. While price action in the major stock market indices was strong, more stocks were down on the day than up. Additionally, banks reacted poorly to earnings and high yield bonds closed at their low of the day. Again, it was only one single day, but there was some mild weakness beneath the surface. On the sector front, there isn’t much new. Discretionary is the lone leader […]
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Date: July 16, 2018
Trapped Again. What Do the Bears Do Now???
Following up from the piece earlier this week, Bull Markets Don’t End Like This, the path of least resistance continues to be higher even though the Trump administration added tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods. As you would expect in the most powerful bull markets, the news was just a one or two day pullback/pause after stocks had appreciated 3% over the previous four days. In other words, it was yet another in a long line of bear […]
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Date: July 12, 2018
Bull Markets Don’t End Like This
Over the past week we have seen two decent signs of the low along with two disappointing signs for the bulls. On Thursday, it became clear that the bulls were just teasing the bears and that the path of least resistance was higher. I was also heartened that one of my primary short-term models turned positive before the July 4th holiday. From here, I fully expect the S&P 400, Russell 2000 and NASDAQ 100 to score all-time highs this month. […]
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Date: July 9, 2018
Banks in Trouble
Stocks ended the month of June with the bears showing a tiny bit of teeth during the afternoon as the major stock market indices gave up most of their gains. The multi-week June swoon looks to continue at the open on Monday as more of the Trump tariff tantrum weighs on stocks with Canada now fighting back. Semiconductors also have some negative news and that supports my concern of leadership change from the the NASDAQ 100 to perhaps the value […]
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Date: July 2, 2018
