ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The S&P 500 printed fresh 2-year highs last week with decent volume. This marks a successful follow-through to the breakout from November’s trading channel. Given the index is now tagging the upper-Bollinger Band, it is even more likely that this move will be sustained, at least in the short-term. The longer-term chart suggests that the … Read more
NOW I better understand Wunderlich Securities’s bullish case for GT Solar (SOLR). When I wrote December 1 about how diversification into sapphire crystallization systems (used in the manufacture of LED products) is paying dividends for SOLR, I noted my confusion over Wunderlich’s reiteration of a buy rating on SOLR. That reiteration came at the same … Read more
Evergreen Solar’s balance sheet is a common concern in nearly every earnings conference call. After reviewing earnings on November 4, I concluded that Evergreen Solar (ESLR) “remains a very speculative bet on survival.” After Monday’s announcement of a major recapitalization plan, it is clear that ESLR’s balance sheet remains in precarious shape. The recapitalization plan … Read more
I have been reporting the breakout of U.S. Steel (X) on twitter since last week, so I thought I would quickly post a chart outlining the case and provide some additional commentary. Like most steel stocks, U.S. Steel has lagged the S&P 500 for most of this year. The stock has churned in a wide … Read more
Once again, negative news flow caught up with Lender Processing Services (LPS) – this time it was a Reuters report titled “Special report: Legal woes mount for a foreclosure kingpin” that provided additional sordid and scandalous details on now well-known allegations that have weighed on LPS for at least a year. Reuters essentially claims that … Read more