Teeth of the Pullback
As you know, for the past few months I have written about this overdue pullback to refresh the stock market. While I have written much about it, I am certainly not taking credit for getting the timing correct as I started discussing it many weeks before it began. Until Tuesday, the pullback, which began three weeks ago, has been about a shallow and mellow decline that has just gone sideways in consolidation mode. Tuesday was the ugliest day of 2017 […]
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Date: March 22, 2017
Going Nowhere
Well, at least last Wednesday was fun if you were a bull! The Fed raised rates by 1/4% as expected and stocks took off on the premise that there would only be two more interest rate hikes the rest of 2017. That hurt the banks and the economically sensitive sectors and gave a strong push to the defensive sectors. I remain skeptical of only two more hikes and stand by my forecast that four hikes are in the cards this […]
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Date: March 20, 2017
Pullback Remains in Place. Junk May Hold Key.
The short-term pullback I have seemingly written about for weeks and weeks remains in place although I am certainly not taking credit for calling it in a timely fashion. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 have all pulled back constructively while the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 are uglier. The three stronger indices are just about to kiss their 21 day moving averages, while their weak cousins knifed right through the 21 as well as their 50 day moving […]
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Date: March 9, 2017
Bulls Remain Large and in Charge Despite Pullback
We had a lot of negative news between Friday’s market close and Monday’s open, almost all on the geopolitical front with the vast majority surrounding President Trump. Of course, Deutsche Bank finally agreeing with the markets that they needed to raise capital was icing on the cake. In a weak market, that backdrop would have yielded a 1-2% lower opening on Monday. In a strong market, we’re talking about .25-.50% lower. Stocks are due and have been due for a […]
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Date: March 6, 2017
Volatility Genie Trying to Pop Out
After what has been celebrated as this huge, epic rally on Wednesday, the major stock market indices gave back all of their post 9:30am gains and then some on Thursday. I mentioned the other day that volatility compression leads to volatility expansion and vice versa. When the volatility Genie finally gets out of the bottle, we will probably see a sustained increase. I think we’re close to that now. Please remember, volatility does not always mean decline. It means wider […]
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Date: March 3, 2017
Sector Leadership Remains Very Strong
This is going to be a quick update as I am standing at the gate in Hartford waiting for my delayed flight to board. It’s never a good sign when early morning flights are late. I am heading down to the east coast of Florida for a quick trip to visit clients and maybe even hit a few golf balls in between meetings if my back holds up. Let’s get the theme out of the way early. The short-term still […]
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Date: February 27, 2017
Short-Term Iffy But Long-Term Remains Strong
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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Date: February 21, 2017
Trump Top Ticking Stock Market?
As I write the next issue of Street$marts, there is a lot of Donald Trump included. Not so much from a political standpoint, but more how he is impacting the stock market and economy. It’s really been amazing that every single meeting I have with clients and prospects, the Trump question is the first one asked. As you know, when it comes to investing, I have a strong contrarian side to me. As the late Joe Granville once said, “if […]
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Date: February 17, 2017
Sector Leadership Immunizes Stock Market from Bear Market
On Friday, I wrote about the Russell 2000 and what a potential breakout could mean for the stock market. At the open today, this index hit a fresh all-time high. Before breaking out the balloons and party streamers, let’s see if it can close at new highs and not give back too much over the coming days. With the Dow closing above 20,000 for five straight days I will have a new target very shortly that looks to be several […]
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Date: February 13, 2017
Small Caps Getting Ready to Lead While Worries about Trump Persist
Yesterday, I wrote about the major stock market indices and how the Russell 2000 was finally waking up. Below is an old chart which I first offered in early January. You can see that the small caps have been in a tight trading range all year and are now trying to break out to the upside. With so many studies pointing lower, this is one index which could counter some of the negativity and give the market a little push […]
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Date: February 10, 2017
