A Breakout Week Ends with A Key Setback – The Market Breadth

key setback (Credit: Levee L550 Upper Breach Aerial of Setback Construction 4 by OmahaUSACE on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary The stock market pushed into overbought conditions last week. After one follow-through day, small caps wilted and dragged down market breadth toward the overbought threshold. That key setback raises the stakes of the current earnings period. I will try to look through the likely “chop” in the trading action, to identify on-going … Read more

A Bear Market Swan Song for the NASDAQ? – The Market Breadth

swan song (Credit: The Song of the Swan 2 by David Hoffman '41)

Stock Market Commentary: Flying on the wings of an AI (artificial intelligence) gold rush, the NASDAQ may have delivered the swan song for its bear market. The latest rush of buying, sent the NASDAQ above its bear market line for the first time since last August. The path to this breakthrough was fraught with yet … Read more

Ralph Clark’s Leadership On Display with the Rebranding of SoundThinking

soundthinking (Credit: Davide Restivo on Flickr)

I am a long-term investor in SoundThinking, Inc (SSTI), formerly ShotSpotter. One key tenet of my bullishness abruptly came undone with the election of Brandon Johnson as mayor of Chicago. Johnson promised to give ShotSpotter (as it was called then) the boot if elected despite reportedly strong public support for the software. Chicago has supported … Read more

A Bullish Bear Market – The Market Breadth

bullish bear (Credit: ell brown on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: This stock market is one bullish bear market. A bear market perhaps cannot get more bullish than the current market. Since the October lows, the various indices have shown a general upside bias. As much time that I have spent the last several weeks looking for excuses to get bearish, the market … Read more

A Sprint Trade on the Race in Generative AI

AI race (Credit: Fuyoh! on Flickr)

The race is on in generative AI (artificial intelligence). Chat GPT introduced this natural language algorithm to a mass audience in November, 2022, and we love it so far. With a market proof at hand, companies are rolling out commercialization efforts. These conversational knowledge engines will find their way into more and more products and … Read more

Santa Rally Denied: The Fed Stays Naughty – The Market Breadth

fed stays naughty (Credit: you're a mean one, mr. grinch... by Wicked Little Cake Company on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: A week ago, I cautioned that “the tenuous positioning is further weakened by a breakout of volatility and significant deterioration in the market breadth indicators.” The November CPI report showed the slightest surprise possible and faked out the stock market on the way to another hawkish statement from the Federal Reserve on … Read more

Should We Worry About Delinquent Bills At AT&T?

ATT phone hang-up

“…on the consumer side of our business, we’re seeing an increase in bad debt to slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels as well as extended cash collection cycles.” AT&T, Inc. (T) CEO John Stankey on Q2 2022 Results – Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha) This observation caught some attention because it sounds like the early warning … Read more