ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
A month ago I laid out the case and conditions for bottoming across the collection of ARK funds. The key pivot rested with the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). It still is the first and only of the pre-pandemic ARK funds to break its pandemic era closing low. Over the past month, ARKF struggled mightily … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Good employment news came in the form of the May jobs report. The unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.6% while the U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs. Both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate are essentially back to the pre-pandemic levels of February, 2020. The labor force participation rate remains 1.1% … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: With the prospects of a bottom for this bear market, I am getting a little more interested in individual stock narratives. The bear market rubble is extensive. The gems are dispersed across a wide area. These stock charts provide one framework for sifting through the trash and the opportunity. {note: in this … Read more
Almost seven years ago, I developed the “200DMA Signal” to provide a relative measure of major bottoms for the S&P 500 (SPY). The 200-day moving average (DMA) is a long-term measure of a price trend, so it provides a robust assessment of prevailing trends. The 200DMA Signal triggers when the S&P 500’s 200DMA suffers its … Read more
Stock Market Commentary After 8 weeks of downward selling pressure, it is hard to pivot thinking on the stock market. Yet, the technical situation requires just such a switch. While the first oversold dip of May was unconvincing, I did flip (cautiously) bullish after the stock market closed oversold for the first time in 519 … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its May policy meeting. While reporting on the minutes suggest the content contained nothing new, the stock market found rally material anyway. Perhaps it was a relief rally from the fallout in social media stocks. The broad-based buying pushed the stock market out of a … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: “The U.S. economy remains fundamentally strong, despite recent mixed data. Recent developments have increased the risk of a future adverse outcome. Our fortress principles are designed to withstandany operating environment.” JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM), Investor Day 2022, Firm Overview, page 12 Starting from oversold conditions, the market was looking for … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The latest bear market bounce was an even closer call than the last one. This time around, Apple Inc (AAPL) failed to lead the S&P 500 away from the brink. AAPL closed below its October, 2021 low the previous day and warned technicians that the stock’s leadership was failing. So when AAPL … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: For a second straight day, retailers put pressure on the stock market. As retailers increase the pain of this bear market, bullish traders and investors lost one more place to “hide”. The Stock Market Indices The S&P 500 (SPY) plunged 4.0% and immediately dashed the prospect of leaving behind the price range … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reminded the market one more time about the Fed’s determination to fight inflation with normalized monetary policy, and the market cared for the briefest of moments. After the anti-inflation dust settled, the major indices closed trading on a strong note. For example, the extended oversold period came … Read more