A Defiant Fed, Unrelenting Bulls – The Market Breadth

A Defiant Fed, Unrelenting Bulls – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary The Federal Reserve took the stage right after the U.S. presidential election. The Federal Reserve and Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered as expected. The unrelenting bulls had no reason to stop the momentum from the post-election rally. Powell stuck to the Fed’s script and unrelenting bulls kept charging. The uneventful meeting had … Read more

Add A Fade From Resistance As A Fresh Bear Teaser – The Market Breadth

Another Bear Teaser With Bearish Engulfing Tops – The Market Breadth (Credit: Dr-Chomp, https://www.flickr.com/photos/14797480@N08/27444404625)

Stock Market Commentary Another week, another tease for bears. A fade from resistance joined market breadth in flagging bearish signals for the stock market. Yet, bears are hard-pressed to find a good risk/reward entry, especially considering the on-going uptrends for 2024. The latest confounder for bears has been the market’s general ability to ignore rising … Read more

All-Time Highs Defy October’s Warnings – The Market Breadth

All-Time Highs Defy October’s Warnings – The Market Breadth (Credit: zoe kahana, https://www.flickr.com/photos/25093808@N00/225536122)

Stock Market Commentary October is the third of the stock market’s three most dangerous months. October, 2024 started with a convergence of bad news tailor-made to fulfill October’s seasonal destiny: intensifying war and geo-political tensions, two intense hurricanes, the looming contentiousness of the U.S. presidential election, another failure from the overbought threshold (bearish according to … Read more

Strong Jobs Report Shakes Lethargic Trading – The Market Breadth

Strong Jobs Report Shakes Lethargic Trading (Credit: Lyle Rains, https://www.flickr.com/photos/62541208@N04/46279921221)

Stock Market Commentary A strong September jobs report woke up the stock market from lethargic trading. The numbers handily beat expectations and reset expectations for future rate cuts and economic growth. Surprisingly, the good news was not bad news; the market has typically been antsy about getting lower interest rates. Instead of fearing a longer … Read more

Stocks Stand By While China and Yen Surge – The Market Breadth

stand by (Credit: Mark Hodson Photos, www.101holidays.co.uk)

Stock Market Commentary The U.S. stock market hardly reflected last week’s action-packed news. China scrambled to address a weakening economy with a massive stimulus program with news rolling nearly all week. In Japan, voters elected a Prime Minister who favors a stronger currency in the Japanese yen (FXY). Capping the anti-climactic feeling in U.S. stocks, … Read more

It’s Already A Below Average September. Now What? – The Market Breadth

quick end

Stock Market Commentary The S&P 500 is down 4.1% month-to-date. This loss makes this month a below average September for a maximum drawdown and fulfills September’s reputation as one of the index’s three most dangerous months of the year. As I noted last week, August’s extreme drawdown significantly increased the risk of September being worse … Read more

The Time Has Come…For A New Overbought Period – The Market Breadth

The Time Has Come For A New Overbought Period – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary This year’s Jackson Hole confab hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve delivered for financial markets. In his prepared speech, Fed Chair Jerome Powell issued an historic and classic sound bite for all of the history of monetary policy (emphasis mine): “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of … Read more

Rate Cut Fears Spin Market Rotation Off the Road – The Market Breadth

Rate Cut Fears Spin Market Rotation Off the Road - The Market Breadth (Credit: Torrenegra https://flic.kr/p/d2eFsh)

Stock Market Commentary Welcome to the start of the stock market’s three most dangerous months of the year. A weak jobs report for July helped to send market sentiment into a sharp reversal. The bad economic news suddenly turned the prospect of rate cuts into something to fear. These rate cut fears spun the market … Read more

Market Rotations Are Wearing Down Overbought Resistance – The Market Breadth

Market Rotations Are Wearing Down Overbought Resistance – The Market Breadth (Credit: Eduardo Tavares, https://www.flickr.com/photos/28761527@N06/3499009813)

Stock Market Commentary Bears still look ready to bow out, but they still have their paws firmly planted on high-tech stocks, especially semiconductors. The market rotations out of tech are nudging enough stocks higher, especially small caps, to rechallenge the threshold defining overbought conditions for market breadth. The stark divergence in stocks greatly reduces the … Read more

Historic Tech Outage Punctuates the End of Overbought Conditions – The Market Breadth

Historic Tech Outage Punctuates the End of Overbought Conditions – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Last week ended with an historic tech outage that took down operations around the globe. This event was a poetic punctuation to a week that featured a sharp and toppy end to overbought conditions. The stock market’s tech outage features blow-off tops, double-tops, and some key breakdowns in individual stocks. Still, while … Read more