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 continued its streak of trickiness. Buyers and sellers played a fierce bear-bull battle starting with one of the biggest fake-out one-day rallies since last September 2nd’s near parabolic run-up. Fresh money flowed into funds to start the month of March to for gains of 2.4% on the S&P 500 … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market got quite tricky last week. A day after buyers re-established control, sellers returned with a sustained fury. The selling on Thursday reflected the stock market’s split personality while the follow-up selling on Friday seemed broader. The pressure on the the stock market looks like an ominous setup for March … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The split personality of the stock market resolved into major breakdowns in the stock market on Tuesday…for about 30 minutes. Apparently increasing inflation fears gave way to the soothing words of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Fed’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. Buyers quickly met the latest sharp and … Read more
E-commerce platform company Shopify (SHOP) has been on a hot streak of secondary stock offerings. In 2020, the company raised $2,578,591 in two separate stock offerings. SHOP cashed in again this week by raising another $1,551,700 in a secondary stock offering of 1.18M shares priced at $1315. The company stated the funds will “strengthen its … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Sellers beat a hasty retreat from the stock market as another bearish signal enjoyed a fleeting existence. The last bearish period lasted about three days. The previous bearish period barely survived a day. The stock market’s ability to quickly wipe away bearish signals is impressive. The buying force over the last week … Read more
Stock Market Commentary After the recent bearish divergence resolved to the downside, the stock market rebounded sharply. Volatility was over-extended and my favorite breadth indicator plunged at an extreme rate. In that context, the stock market’s subsequent bounce made sense as relief from extreme conditions. The sellers followed through on the resolution of bearish divergence … Read more
Stock Market Commentary After the stock market ended its last overbought period, I hesitated to drop my short-term trading call back to bearish. Three days later and the market has yet to snap back into overbought trading conditions. As the major indices levitate, my favorite breadth indicator, AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market gapped up and never looked back in the wake of the Presidential Inauguration. Subsequently, buyers produced mixed follow-through for two days. Big cap tech defied the narrative of a rotation into value and industrial names by delivering the most convincing follow-through. A third drop from overbought conditions in a … Read more
Stock Market Commentary What a week to start the year’s trading. It started with a definitively bearish end to extended overbought conditions. Overbought conditions bullishly resumed in the middle of the week despite an insurrection in Washington D.C. The week ended with a confirmation of the freshly bullish sentiment in the market. The trading action … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The weakening overbought conditions finally gave way to a full breakdown. The abrupt end of the overbought period ushers in the bear. Ironically, trading started well with the S&P 500 (SPY) gapping slightly higher at the open. The selling pressure started after the open and did not relent until lunchtime on the … Read more