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 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 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 The rally out of the stock market’s last oversold period finally suffered its first strike today as a strong open fizzled into some important fades. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ tapped highs of the year only to fail into marginally negative closes. Most importantly, market breadth perfectly tapped the threshold for … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market continued its inflation celebration last week with a surge on Monday. The buying momentum abated from there as the holiday-shortened week rolled into Thanksgiving and then Black Friday. Even though NVIDIA (NVDA) stole the earnings spotlight for the week, the U.S.’s most storied day of shopping set the stage … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The economic numbers keep coming up roses for the stock market. Last week’s celebration was driven by a soft inflation report for October that further emboldened buyers. A fresh surge in bond prices (lower yield) led the way as small caps in particular rocketed higher. The relentless buying pressure also solidified the … 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
Stock Market Commentary An October jobs report with some weakening numbers and more downward revisions of prior numbers appeared to reinforce the market’s celebratory conclusion that the Fed is done hiking interest rates. The resulting drop in long-term interest rates helped to support a major reset for the stock market. October’s bearishness has given way … Read more
The bear market intrusion to the oversold period gave way to an explosion of bullish trading action this week. The maximum drawdown of October for the S&P 500 (SPY) was 4.0% well above the average for the month. This extreme move provided the perfect setup for the sharpness of the current oversold bounce. The rubber … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A bear market intrusion upset the dynamics of this oversold period. The NASDAQ is back in bear market territory. Both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 broke down below their respective 200-day moving averages (DMAs) (the blue line in the charts below) and entered “correction” territory which is 10% below the 52-week … Read more