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 Last week featured an intense barrage of earnings reports. The collective response on the major indices was a major yawn. The S&P 500 finished flat for the week. The NASDAQ and the iShares Trust Russell 2000 Index ETF both softened by 0.4%. Financials were a notable exception as the Financial Select Sector … Read more
North American: The United States “What we’re seeing now is an economy that seems to be at an inflection point….we feel like we are at a point where the economy is about to start growing much more quickly, and job creation coming in much more quickly…we see strong growth and strong job creation starting right … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The week began with two straight days of selling for the stock market. Almost everything was in place for a real pullback. Although the S&P 500 (SPY) was less than 2% off its all-time high, my favorite measure of breadth in the stock market, AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above … Read more
The Relationship At its height last March, the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) still could not close all its pandemic-driven losses. JETS was a 5.9% gain from finally returning to where it last traded at its 200-day moving average (DMA) (the blue line in the stock chart below). Similarly, the number of travelers at U.S. … Read more
A Fresh Crack from the Currency Market At the time of writing, the Australian dollar versus the Japanese yen (AUD/JPY) is falling below its 50-day moving average (DMA) (the red line in the chart below) for the first time since last September. This move is the latest yellow, perhaps red, flag on the stock market … Read more
Stock Market Commentary All March long the stock market wrestled with inflation fears. After the S&P 500 (SPY) successfully rallied away from its 50-day moving average (DMA) (red line in the chart below) in early March, I recognized signs that the stock market’s churn was a sign of digestion of these fears. Yet, so-called growth … Read more
A change in leadership at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) slammed the Turkish lira (USD/TRY). A little over a week later, the new governor, Şahap Kavcıoğlu, granted an interview with Bloomberg to discuss recent events and monetary policy. The CBRT published a transcript of the brief interview. Thus, I assume the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary After writing the last Above the 40 post, I thought the market would soon force me off the fence and onto the bullish side of the pasture. Even with post-Fed churn in play, the market looked like it was digesting inflation fears pretty well. Instead, a rolling interruption for the stock market’s … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A great stock market divergence continued last week. However, the market overall is looking more and more resilient as it continues to digest inflation fears. Even the biggest victim of the great divergence, the NASDAQ (COMPQX), remains well above its lows for the month. A very dovish session with Federal Reserve Chair … Read more
A month ago I mused about the business of music streaming and wondered how music artists make any money from their music. A recent episode of Marketplace provided the simple answer: the transition from buying music by the unit to paying a flat monthly fee has been unprofitable for the vast majority of music artists. … Read more