Irrational Exuberance
This past weekend was the first official ski weekend for my youngest son and me. And boy was it cold in Vermont! But with mid-winter conditions, it was hard not to overdo it. I overdid it and now I am in a world of pain. Neck, back, quads, calves, fingers. Anyway, as you can imagine, I am usually a chatty one on the lift. Since we typically ride the quad or 6 pack, we are usually with strangers. When people […]
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Date: December 12, 2016
Bulls Continue to Trample Ahead
On Wednesday, I gave a higher level overview of how the stock market is behaving along with the leadership and some key indicators. Nothing has really changed. Almost everything is severely overbought, but they can still become even more overbought. Pullbacks through year-end should be shallow and no more than 2-3%, lasting just a few days. Another piece of good news for the longevity of the bull market came this week. The NYSE Advance/Decline Line scored an all-time high. That […]
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Date: December 9, 2016
Window for Decline Almost Closed
For the past three weeks, our models have been defensive regarding the stock market after the first week’s post-election surge. I often say that when certain conditions are present, a “window of opportunity” opens for a stock market decline. The longer time passes without a decline, the more likely the window will close. Today, the window is starting to close and I imagine that by two weeks from today, it will be fully closed, modest decline or not. The Dow, […]
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Date: December 7, 2016
Stock Market Yawning at Recount
After a small gain on Wednesday, the seasonality bulls got their work done on Friday as the strong trend held to form. Without any weakness leading into that trend, it made it too tough for me to play it. However, I did tweet on Friday that taking a small short position at the close for seasonal weakness on Monday seemed like a better risk/reward play. Heading into the new week, we have to be on the lookout for the typical […]
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Date: November 28, 2016
Seasonals Favor Bulls into Weekend
Today and Friday are well known and widely followed seasonally strong days for stocks. That doesn’t mean we should just blindly buy and hope things work out. Stocks have been almost straight up since the election so you can certainly argue that a lot of fuel has been used up, including the last two days. As I mentioned on Monday, if the stock market was down on Tuesday I would have wanted to be long on Wednesday and Friday. That’s […]
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Date: November 23, 2016
Bulls Not Done
The bulls came back from the weekend in a good mood as stocks are rallying into lunch on Monday. While banks are taking a little breather, commodity-related sectors are leading with energy, metals & mining and materials all doing well along with some of the beaten down Hillary sectors, utilities, staples and telecom. High yield bonds are finally showing some oomph and emerging market countries are bouncing. The NYSE A/D Line is showing decent participation. I won’t rehash all the […]
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Date: November 21, 2016
Three Scenarios to Year-End
On the surface, you would think that the past nine days were nine easy days for the bulls. After all, the Dow was up more than 5%. What could be bad? Beneath the surface, there was much wrong with the post-election rally that began the day before the election. To begin with, the Dow was a leading index, followed by the Russell 2000. The S&P 500 and S&P 400 were nothing special. The NASDAQ 100 was actually down over the […]
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Date: November 18, 2016
The Path to 270 & Stock Market Reaction
Don’t forget to vote! Thanks to NBC, ABC and FOX in Connecticut for having me on regarding the election. Each segment was very different and offered new information. The first two interviews are below and I will post the FOX one as soon as I have it. Statistical Model Provides Hints at Presidential Outcome http://wtnh.com/2016/11/06/financial-expert-says-election-could-have-impact-on-stock-market/ It’s been a long two years since the midterm election and I think I can confidently state that the entire country has election fatigue. I […]
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Date: November 8, 2016
Time to Buy or Wait
After 9 straight down days and a little help from the FBI, the stock market looks to soar higher at the opening on the increased likelihood of a Clinton victory on Election Day. While I completely understand the “devil you know” argument and continuation of much of the same from the past 8 years, I am somewhat surprised the market is so at ease with the prospect of higher tax rates on job creators and widespread social program spending. However, […]
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Date: November 7, 2016
8 Straight Down Days – Quiet Bear Market?
The S&P 500 is now down 8 straight days. Pundit chatter in the media and on Twitter has been fairly negative. Option traders are bearish. The volatility index is up almost 100% since September. Either a bear market has quietly begun or the market is approaching yet another good dip to buy in an ongoing bull market. I think you know where I stand. Seasonality studies are abound that the market just entered the best six months. Additionally, it’s also […]
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Date: November 4, 2016
