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 Right after the stock market tempted me to flip from bearish to neutral, January’s CPI (consumer price index) turned brought the bears rushing back to the scene. Inflation’s fizzle turned to sizzle, and the technical picture of the stock market almost flipped on its head. The charts say it all – the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week repeated a familiar story. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ closed up for the week. Since the October lows, each index has only suffered one down week. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF was part of the party until the calendar flipped to 2024. The ETF of small caps lost altitude … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Instead of climbing a wall of worry, the market is climbing a wall of frustration (I stole that from a friend of mine). No matter what economic indicators bears stare at to declare impending doom, the jobs market just keeps coming in hot month-after-month. While a widening swath of stocks are breaking … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A bearish divergence is well underway in the stock market. While the S&P 500 and NASDAQ rally, a key bearish trading signal persists in market breadth. The previous week, market breadth created a strong bearish signal by slicing below the overbought threshold. This key bearish trading signal was reinforced by last week’s … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A decisive end to the extended overbought period signaled the arrival of bearish conditions last week. Bears boldly sold for one more day before a “stock bulls taunt” forced suddenly hesitant bears into a partial retreat. A sharp market divergence is now taking hold. While the major indices rallied off support and … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Signature stock market moments capped a remarkable year for the stock market. Two months of nearly relentless buying delivered a stunning 70% of the gains for the S&P 500 in 2023 after bulls exploded out of oversold trading conditions. Housing-related stocks soared even more as financial markets celebrate the presumed end of … Read more
Stock Market Commentary For traders like myself who follow market cycles from extreme fear to extreme euphoria, last week’s trading action was astonishing. The stock market was already well overbought and stretched going into Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting. Yet, buyers STILL managed to go into extreme stretch mode. The Federal Reserve essentially declared the death … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I have been a long-time skeptic of Beyond Meat (BYND) but a technical turn of events attracted me to a potential speculative trade in the stock. Combining a positive post-earnings reaction, a confirmed breakout, and today’s push higher above a consolidation period, BYND took on the look of a stock that can … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Market breadth tentatively tested the overbought threshold before buyers got a hit and made a dash into overbought conditions. The previous tentativeness created a first strike against the market rally. The dash into overbought conditions refreshed a broad bullishness in the stock market. Long-term interest rates were once again the center of … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Downtrends are over. Bullish breakouts abound. Sellers got one chance last week to try to keep the cork in the bottle of the oversold bounce, but they failed. The stock market insisted on pushing right through. With little time to rest, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ ended the week with major … Read more