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: Once again, Apple Inc (AAPL) became a poster child of market sentiment. When AAPL pulled away from resistance at its 50-day moving average (DMA) (the red line below), the move looked like a tease with bear market conditions still in force. Two weeks later, AAPL emerged vindicated as a 3.3% post-earnings gain … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The stock market overcame a serious setback with an impressive rebound. The rally started before Jay Powell announced the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on monetary policy and pushed higher afterward. The market seemed determine to launch as the opening gap up immediately erased the previous day’s loss. Buyers never looked back and … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The synchronized breakout looked impressive, but it already hit a serious setback. Friday’s downbeat day was relatively mild on a percentage loss basis, but the context was important. The economic setback came from the July update for the S&P Global Flash US PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index™) Composite Output Index. The headline says … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The synchronized breakout looked impossible just yesterday. Apple (AAPL) reversed course with a 2.1% loss that seemed to confirm recent strength was just a bear market tease. Rumors spread through the market that Apple will announce a hiring slowdown and reduced spending. Today, all was forgotten as the major indices all enjoyed … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market failed its test of the summer of discontent. The bear market stayed true to its name and held firm at important resistance levels. This is a time to shift into neutral in deference to the unenthusiastic buying power and the overwhelming technicals. With earnings season underway and the continuing … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The major indices enjoyed important rebounds last week. Despite this summer of discontent, buyers managed to follow through on the previous week’s test of the oversold threshold. The gains are yet another testament to the opportunities in oversold trading conditions. The rebound was strong enough to push market breadth to new heights … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Fears of a recession are running high as the Federal Reserve scrambles to normalize monetary policy. The Fed is racing against an economic clock. It needs to get rates as close to the “neutral rate” as possible before a weakening economy finally forces them to reverse course. The higher the rates when … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary A month ago, housing-related stocks managed to stabilize despite deteriorating data. Reality caught up in June with a fresh round of selling in the stocks of home builders. A surprising jump in new home sales provide some relief for an otherwise on-going din of negative housing news. The National Association … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The summer of discontent is proving more abrupt, sharp, and violent than I expected. The promising rally out of the shadow of the bear stopped cold at the steep downtrends formed by 20-day moving averages (DMAs) (the dotted lines in the charts below). A test of 50DMA resistance (the red lines below) … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Traders switched up sentiment in the stock market with a flash. After struggling under the shadow of the bear for nearly two weeks, buyers made a bullish dash for stocks. The major indices flipped from key fades at critical resistance to convincing slices through key resistance. The broad based buying put a … Read more