ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The Follow-Through: Churning While the S&P 500 (SPY) cruised higher all week, much of the rest of the market resigned to churning. The dichotomy of a market rebound versus the wounds left to heal continued to play out. Many of the follow-through trades for this week churned with the rest of the stock market. See … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Even the Federal Reserve must sit back and marvel as the S&P 500 (SPY) refuses to rest for long. Post-Fed handwringing sent the stock market into a period of doubt over previous assumptions of inflation fears. The previous week even ended with oversold conditions looming. However, as is the case with so … Read more
The Follow-Through Intro The stock market followed a rare stumble with a broad-based rebound from “oversold enough” conditions. Stocks were generally up across the board as buyers rushed in to grab “bargains.” AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs), jumped from 37% to 46%. My favorite technical indicator … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The Federal Reserve seemed to change the rules of the game. To-date, easy money policies and stubborn dovishness in the face of rising inflation was a formula for higher asset prices, reflation and inflation-friendly trades, and even rising fears of an over-heating economy. Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell shifted the … Read more
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell served up the alley-oop and James Bullard delivered the slam dunk. While the latest statement on monetary policy had nothing to say about a hawkish turn at the Fed, Powell served up notice during the press conference. Powell noted growth and inflation prospects that exceeded prior expectations, which in turn … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The drag I described in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s pronouncements on monetary policy eroded the stock market a lot more than I thought. Market breadth printed a major fakeout with my favorite indicator plunging in the wake of deep selling in inflation-related trades from commodities to industrials to financials. The … Read more
The Follow-Through Intro The biggest follow-through trades from “Key Stock Sectors Missed A Breakout In Market Breadth – Above the 40” (June 11, 2021) erupted in the housing-related plays. Big cap tech looks more ready than ever to reestablish its leadership position over the market. The stock market had an initial negative reaction to the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market struggled for months against the downtrend line on market breadth. The struggle ended last week. My favorite technical indicator of breadth AT40 (T2108) broke out and closed the week at 61.9%. Now I start a countdown toward a test of the overbought threshold. However, several sectors dampened the week’s … Read more
The Follow Through Intro In this premiere edition of “The Follow Through”, I review the latest trading developments in stocks and indices covered in my last Above the 40 blog post: “No Deal for a Confirmation of the Market Breadth Breakout.” This format will focus on video as a quick way of sending out new … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I fully anticipated follow-through to the breakout of market breadth that started trading last week. Instead, trading on the major indices wavered going into a mini pullback on Thursday. As a result, Friday’s rally following the May jobs report failed to generate a confirmation of the market breadth breakout. With job creation … Read more