Suddenly, the VIX Looks Like It Matters Again – The Market Breadth

surprise (Credit: Surprise!!! 4/365 by Benson Kua from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary While I watch the tense trading unfold in NVDA, the VIX, the volatility index, has suddenly returned to my radar as an indicator of interest. Thursday’s stock market setback came with a surging VIX that closed at a new high of the year. The regular programming of the volatility faders actually failed … Read more

Watching NVDA Instead of the Jobs Report – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) confirmed a double-top with today’s 3.4% loss. For only the sixth time this year, NVDA closed below its uptrending support at the 20-day moving average (DMA) (the dotted line below). Three of these closes have come in the last three days. The stock is now within “inches” of confirming … Read more

What Happened to the Housing Market – Positive Builders Greet the Spring | March, 2024

What Happened to the Housing Market - Positive Builders Greet the Spring (credit: Freepik, https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/medium-shot-people-painting-together_13658906.htm)

Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in March, 2024? Home builders grew more positive and greeted the spring selling season with a resurgence in housing starts. In my previous Housing Market Review, I pointed out breakouts in the stocks of homebuilders and a bottoming in existing home sales. Both developments … Read more

Market Breadth Ends Q1 with An Important Breakout – The Market Breadth

Market Breadth Ends Q1 with An Important Breakout - The Market Breadth (Credit: I Get Up and Nothing Gets Me Down! JUMP!, by Guian Bolisay https://www.flickr.com/photos/44312356@N04/6187257947)

Stock Market Commentary The stock market put an exclamation point on the end of the previous week’s statement performance. Market breadth made an important breakout to a 2-month high and almost looks ready to return to overbought conditions. Such a milestone would finally align my favorite technical indicator with the relentless strength in the stock … Read more

A Statement Week for Stocks – The Market Breadth

statement week for the stock market - the market breadth (Credit: Steampunk Fashion Statement by cobalt123 on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/66606673@N00/4668035266)

Stock Market Commentary Stocks quickly invalidated the latest topping signals and recorded a statement week. This regular routine was further boosted by a Federal Reserve that dished out stronger forecasts for the economy and inflation and yet, much to my bemusement, “promised” the stock market three rate cuts are still likely ahead for the year. … Read more

Follow the Trend: The Turkish Lira

brutal failure (Credit: Hands to the head by hernanpba on Flickr)

In early December, I was hopeful that the Turkish lira would finally find its footing. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) was aggressively hiking rates and currency reserves sat at record levels. The high interest rate (40% at the time) made betting on eventual currency appreciation appear worth the risk. While collecting … Read more

A Curious Break in the Trading Action – The Market Breadth

A Curious Break in the Trading Action - The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary A curious break in the trading action unfolded as financial markets wrestled with two “disappointing” inflation reports. Both the CPI (consumer price index) and wholesale inflation (the producer price index or PPI) came in slightly higher than “expected” (headline and core). The data just tell me expectations are unrealistic or at best … Read more

Is the Latest Topping Pattern Another Tease for the Bears? – The Market Breadth

Is the Latest Topping Pattern Another Tease for the Bears - The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Is another tease for the bears underway? The current bullish rally has included so many temporary bearish signals that I had to stop using baseball metaphors to call strikes. Now, the latest bearish signal looks like the most ominous yet. In the wake of February’s job report, price action delivered a wicked … Read more

Speculating On Innovation ETFs Versus Big Cap Tech: ARKK vs IPO vs QQQ

speculate (Credit: Booby Stare-Down by Scott Ableman on Flickr)

This year has been a surprisingly good year for speculating. The race to the end of 2023 looked like it priced in a lot of good news, but the good news (in price action) continues apace year-to-date. Thus, I decided to take a fresh look at last year’s claim: “Renaissance IPO ETF A Less Volatile … Read more