ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
When I wrote about the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) currency trap, the presumed intervention looked ineffective on balance. However, it appears the Bank of Japan has a multi-phased plan. Last week’s presumed intervention generated a fresh phase of weakness for USD/JPY (strength for the Japanese yen and Invesco CurrencyShares® Japanese Yen Trust ETF (FXY)). That … Read more
Stock Market Commentary In the prior week a post-earnings pricequake from Meta Platforms (META) dominated the stock market headlines. Last week, an Apple buyquake dominated the headlines and week-ending trading after the company announced a record $110B buyback. The subsequent gain in AAPL turned my simple test dividing bearish and bullish trading action into a … Read more
When Jim Cramer gets exorcised about something, I sit up and pay attention. As a student of market extremes, Cramer’s extremes offer their own special trading signals. At the onset of the pandemic, I wrote about “Cramer in turmoil” as a demonstration of how quickly financial narratives can change in response to market extremes, revealing … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in April, 2024? After four months of growing more positive, home builders proceeded into the spring selling season thanks to drag from the South. In my previous Housing Market Review, I pointed out a positive start to the spring selling season. April painted a … Read more
The year 2024 may be seen as the time the Bank of Japan’s “free lunch” came to an end. For decades, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) ran a zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) that even descended into negative rates in 2016. The BoJ eased and eased monetary policy (aka printed and printed) to buy Japanese … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Can a bullish divergence create a bottom for stocks? The stock market ended last week with an emphatic “YES!” A wild week got treacherous after Thursday’s META pricequake. Investors rushed for the exits after Meta Platforms (META) reported earnings. The sympathy selling went far and wide. Fortunately, earnings from Alphabet (GOOG) and … Read more
FactSet’s John Butters laid out a case for the “Magnificent Seven” companies losing the majority of their earnings growth dominance by the end of the year. In “Are the ‘Magnificent 7’ the Top Contributors to Earnings Growth for the S&P 500 for Q1?“, Butters showed how analyst expectations for year-over-year earnings growth for the top … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week was an intense week of trading. The ever-escalating conflict in the Middle East disturbed markets. However, the initial negative reaction in futures market was mostly erased by the time of the market open on Thursday. The indices even managed to gain ground before getting faded. Thus, the market still fundamentally … Read more
Stock Market Commentary April showers have arrived in the form of stockdrops instead of raindrops. After a near relentless push higher every month since November, the S&P 500 is down 4.4% month-to-date. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ have confirmed bearish breakdowns and the ETF of small caps, IWM, is again in a bear … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week was a week like few other for the volatility index, the VIX. In my last Market Breadth I made the case for the VIX mattering again. A VIX follow-through demonstrated even more strength and resilience. The resulting closing high for the year is a firmer bearish signal for the stock … Read more