ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Stock Market Commentary The stock chickens have come to roost on declining market breadth. The stock market indices still generally appear fine, but an ever growing swath of individual stocks have fallen further and further behind. Last week in particular, sellers delivered an extended beating on individual stocks. The signs of waning confidence in the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market melt-up took a one day break. The signs of trouble were ever more clear ahead of the break. Something was wrong with the picture in the stock market. Yet, sellers could barely follow through. The S&P 500 stumbled with a gap down, but buyers stepped right back in at … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A stock market melt-up is in full effect. Investopedia defines a melt-up as “…a sustained and often unexpected improvement in the investment performance of an asset or asset class, driven partly by a stampede of investors who don’t want to miss out on its rise, rather than by fundamental improvements in the economy.” … Read more
The Follow-Through: Churning While the S&P 500 (SPY) cruised higher all week, much of the rest of the market resigned to churning. The dichotomy of a market rebound versus the wounds left to heal continued to play out. Many of the follow-through trades for this week churned with the rest of the stock market. See … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Even the Federal Reserve must sit back and marvel as the S&P 500 (SPY) refuses to rest for long. Post-Fed handwringing sent the stock market into a period of doubt over previous assumptions of inflation fears. The previous week even ended with oversold conditions looming. However, as is the case with so … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I fully anticipated follow-through to the breakout of market breadth that started trading last week. Instead, trading on the major indices wavered going into a mini pullback on Thursday. As a result, Friday’s rally following the May jobs report failed to generate a confirmation of the market breadth breakout. With job creation … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week delivered another key test of support levels for the stock market. The major indices passed their individual tests, but the week ended with no resolution. Bulls and bears are battling between short-term ranges that are chopping and churning traders. With the stock market resigned to this kind of chop, patient … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week featured yet another episode of momentary panic proceeded by a virtual “all clear” signal. In the middle of the week, the S&P 500 (SPY) broke down just as the stock market hit extremes. Subsequently, buyers stepped into the breach. As a result, the very next day, the stock market rebounded … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market is a cauldron of contradictions and divergences. Breakdowns below key support levels abound. Stocks suffer post-earnings fades even after companies report strong results, especially in both beaten up growth stocks and resilient big cap tech. Yet, the S&P 500 just rises above the steady erosion of market breadth with … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week featured an intense barrage of earnings reports. The collective response on the major indices was a major yawn. The S&P 500 finished flat for the week. The NASDAQ and the iShares Trust Russell 2000 Index ETF both softened by 0.4%. Financials were a notable exception as the Financial Select Sector … Read more