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 I flipped bearish on the stock market over a week ago because of a significant breakdown in the S&P 500 (SPY). Moreover, the breakdown occurred alongside vulnerable breadth indices and a bottoming volatility index (VIX). As a result, when the index closed lower than the previous week’s low, I braced for follow-through. … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The strong start to September which characterized the persistent complacency in the stock market soon gave way to the kind of selling that characterizes one of the most dangerous months of the year. September came to a bearish end with a 4.8% loss on the month for the S&P 500. The index … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week opened with a gap down amid hand-wringing about the potential for contagion from debt problems in China’s property market. However, the week ended like nothing happened. The major indices even managed marginal gains after the dust settled. As is so often the case, the Federal Reserve, under the comforting words … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market breezed through August and now strolls into September. The S&P 500 breezed to a 2.9% gain for the month of August, its seventh month in a row of gains. The NASDAQ breezed even higher with a 4.0% gain for August. The stroll into September ignored the disappointment in the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Pattern trading uses consistent bets on repeated behaviors in financial markets. Over the course of time, pattern trading delivers profits from the diligent application of rules based on standard, technical setups in stock charts. The persistent uptrends and trading ranges in this pandemic stock market have delivered a surprisingly long stretch of … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The S&P 500 (SPY) lost 0.7% for just its 4th down day of the 12 trading days of August. The index closed at an all-time high the previous day. The pullback looks like just one more tiny pinprick in the middle of a monster run-up during this pandemic. Yet the ongoing deterioration … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The upward drift in the stock market continued another week. The latest narrative comes from the cascading impact of the infrastructure bill settled in the Senate (I feel like the U.S. has passed this bill 10 times already!). While more wrangling lies ahead in the House of Representatives, the stock market felt … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The oversold bounce last week exceeded my expectations. I did not expect the week to end with the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hitting fresh all-time highs. Both indices seemed to offer limited upside for trading oversold conditions.The oversold bounce also disappointed me. I looked to beaten up stocks as the source … Read more
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 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