It’s really the same old story as we begin the new week and the final full week of October. The intermediate and long-term continue to look strong as they have for days, weeks, months and quarters. Nothing has changed. The short-term is the time frame where it’s neutral at best. I have said all month that the bulls need a little rest, but they haven’t seemed to care. Today, as I look at the five major stock market indices, the […]
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This is looking more and more the running of the bulls in Pamplona. They just stampede anyone and everyone in their way. After the two strongly positive seasonal trends ended after the first week of October, there was sufficient evidence that stocks were due for a pause to refresh or modest, single digit pullback. That’s what I was looking for. Nothing big. Nothing significant. Nothing really actionable. Just your garden variety reset. Stocks came out of the gate to the […]
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Good Monday Morning! Huge weekend if you are a sports fan although the decision making of my Yankees’ and Cowboys’ manager and coach likely just ended their seasons. At that level, the margin for blunders is razor thin and both Girardi (4 stupid decisions in 40 min) and Garrett (one giant brain freeze) cost their teams. While I have never been in their shoes, it’s the same thing I face each and every market day. Over the past 29 years, […]
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Looking at the economic news of the day, jobs created in September actually declined for the first time since 2011. On the surface, that would be shockingly disappointing and brings in calls for recession. However, all of the drop from the expected 100,000 created will be attributed to the hurricanes. The unemployment rate surprisingly fell to 4.2% from the expected 4.4%. Until the economies in Texas and Florida get back to somewhat normal behavior, job numbers are going to be […]
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After a solid end to September and Q3, stocks open the new day, week, month and quarter flirting with all-time highs. Of the major indices, only the NASDAQ 100 isn’t there, but I expect to see that achievement this week. When I think of October, Reggie Jackson’s three home run game in 1977 comes to mind along with Halloween, fall foliage and stock market crashes. As I already wrote about, while October is known for huge market swings, 2017 is […]
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Since late July, my overall theme has been one of pause to refresh with a mild pullback as the five major stock market indices were certainly not all in gear to the upside. Two months later, with the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 recently surging, they are all getting closer together. That behavior comes at the expense of the NASDAQ 100 peaking earlier this month and moving sideways for the others to catch up. I fully expect November and December […]
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Turning to the four key sectors I follow, we don’t have as strong a picture as the major indices, but they are still okay. Semis are first and they have been the strongest for some time, almost too strong, but that’s a topic for a different piece. While they have yet to eclipse their Dotcom bubble high from 2000, they continue to make new highs for this bull market. Banks are next and after a dizzying pace following the election […]
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As we head into the holiday shortened week, the bulls don’t seem ready just yet for that next assault higher. Last Wednesday’s reversal still looms and there are small wounds that need to be healed. Don’t forget that our markets are closed on Friday for Good Friday and liquidity may be a touch lower because of the first two nights of Passover on Monday and Tuesday. All of the major stock market indices experienced sharp reversals last Wednesday and while […]
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Today is the last day of the month as well as the last day of the quarter. The S&P 500 closed down -0.12% in August and is on track to close down in September unless the bulls can mount a major offensive, which I am not ruling out, and close above 2071. That means a down August and September for the S&P in a presidential election year, something not seen since 1956. You can put that in the category of […]
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