Stocks are continuing the recent pause or mild pullback. Monday’s action saw the indices reverse to the downside and now we’re watching to see if the market can close below Monday’s lowest level to signal further downside. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 have exhibited the best relative strength with the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 much weaker this week. On the downside, I wouldn’t expect more than a few percent with the Dow likely to find a little […]
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All week stocks have been in pullback mode but it sure doesn’t feel like it. What is the S&P 500 down from its intra-day peak? Not even 1%. Overnight trading suggests a test of 2019 highs. Again, when the masses have been sitting in so much cash all year, waiting for stocks to go down 5%, 10% and 15%, it provides a strong cushion against such a decline. The slightest bit of weakness continues to be bought, until it isn’t. […]
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After a nearly vertical rise in stock prices since the Christmas bottom, the market seems to have put in a short-term peak on Monday. There is nothing to suggest that this will be anything more than a routine, normal and healthy pullback which could be a few days and a few percent or a longer period of sideways action. On Monday, all five major stock market indices hit recovery highs and new highs for 2019. On Monday, all four key […]
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The epic rally from the Christmas bottom continues unabated. leaving more than a few people scratching their heads. The rally just isn’t conforming to historical norms and all those people waiting on the sidelines have been left behind, completely and utterly embarrassed. Actually, most of those people just keep digging their heels in to hate and disavow the rally. I can’t even count how many of those fast money guys and gals look like bigger clowns than they already are. […]
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The final two canaries are probably my favorites because I believe they are the most powerful and predictive. In every bull market of the modern investing era, both of these canaries gave 3 to 21 months notice that trouble was brewing. However, that doesn’t mean that every time these canaries warn, bear markets occur. It just means that they haven’t missed any. The first chart is that of New York Stock Exchange’s Advance/Decline Line which simply measures participation in the […]
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Following up from Friday’s post, stocks remain overbought and certainly stretched to the upside although the same can certainly be said all month. They are much in need of a break or at least a quick pause to refresh. However, sometimes strong momentum overpowers everything as we have seen from time to time. I closed last week by saying that the bull market is absolutely not over in my opinion. That prevented the usual emails. Look no further than two […]
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After hitting yet another one of my upside targets, 20,000, the Dow has yet to pause. Five straight closes above 20,000 will open up new upside targets before the bull market ends. As you can see below, the Dow has been consolidating sideways since early December. That’s often referred to as a flat top or box. When prices finally exceed the flat top, they oftentimes see a spurt in the same direction. Although momentum is on the side of the […]
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Last week, my theme focused on a pullback in the stock market. More importantly, my strong opinion was that it wasn’t a bout of weakness where people should sell in to, but rather to use that opportunity to buy the dip or re-position a portfolio to where it should be over where it was. Friday was an ugly day across the board. Overwhelmingly red. 96% of the volume on the NYSE was in stocks that were down. Besides stocks, bonds […]
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The Dow and S&P 500 are still lagging the other major stock market indices in pullback mode, but contrary to what you may think, this remains a very healthy environment for stocks. In the strongest markets, the more “risk on” indices are the ones charging ahead. That’s the case now with the S&P 400, Russell 2000 and NASDAQ 100. The NYSE Advance/Decline Line which measures broad participation recently scored yet another all-time high and high yield bonds are hanging in […]
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Over the past few trading days, stocks gathered a little steam, but I still think the markets are in the midst of yet another pause or tiny pullback. It is amazing, however, that we have not seen a 1% in either direction since the post-BREXIT rally in early July. I have been saying nonstop that we saw historic strength coming out of the Y2K like BREXIT and that strength would not dissipate so quickly. Frankly, I thought we would have […]
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