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 market oozed with bullish intent as it pushed its way through the latest Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy. While Jerome Powell made sure to stick to the script and introduced no surprises to the market, he was surprisingly reluctant to underline the Fed’s hawkishness. The market made a mile … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Last week was a bullish week for the stock market. Key breakouts on the major indices made a bullish case for stocks as buying strength conjured up overbought trading conditions. Yet another post-CPI celebration sealed the deal on a bullish convergence leading into the report on inflation. While it is tempting to … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The Fed said “no” in 2022. The Fed said no to inflation, no to easy money, no to the housing market, and pointedly said no to a stock market pleading for relief from an accelerated cycle for normalizing monetary policy. Instead of the typical routine rushing to the rescue of a plunging … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary In my last Housing Market Review, I described how a housing recession was reflected in the worsening housing data, including the latest report on U.S. GDP. While new home sales made another surprise bounce in October, the rest of the housing data continued to worsen in the month. However, a … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: For those desperately looking for the “Fed pivot”, today’s Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy disappointed with a validation of the breakdown leading into the Fed meeting. Fed Chair Jerome Powell was almost unrelenting from start to finish with his efforts to stay on message: inflation remains too high, and the Fed … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Jerome Powell, and the Federal Reserve, remained resolute with the anti-inflation rhetoric. The stock market hated it. Slowing growth, recession fears, and hopes for “peak inflation” are still not producing the result Wall Street wants: a Federal Reserve backing down from monetary tightening, also known as “the pivot.” The bears seized the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Once again, Apple Inc (AAPL) became a poster child of market sentiment. When AAPL pulled away from resistance at its 50-day moving average (DMA) (the red line below), the move looked like a tease with bear market conditions still in force. Two weeks later, AAPL emerged vindicated as a 3.3% post-earnings gain … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The stock market overcame a serious setback with an impressive rebound. The rally started before Jay Powell announced the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on monetary policy and pushed higher afterward. The market seemed determine to launch as the opening gap up immediately erased the previous day’s loss. Buyers never looked back and … Read more
The landscape of inflation and monetary policy continues to change fast. The June inflation numbers disappointed expectations once again for peak inflation. A surprise 1% point rate hike by the Bank of Canada combined with this hot inflation accelerated the timeline for peak interest rates from the Federal Reserve. Instead of a 75 basis point … Read more
That sigh of disappointment was Wall Street looking for signs of a weakening labor market in the June jobs report. Instead, that report showed job creation remains robust in the economy. Not only did the unemployment rate remain steady at a low 3.6% with the economy adding 372,000 jobs (far more than “consensus” expectations), the … Read more