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: Inflation is everywhere in the global economy, and inflation will hang around for some time to come. The inflation problem is so bad that the Federal Reserve does not think inflation will return to its 2% target for another three years. While economists and pundits debate about how long inflation will last, … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The S&P 500 takes the spotlight going into trading this week. The index is a breakdown away from officially ushering in a return to bearish trading conditions. Trading last week completed the stock market’s return to the reality of macro conditions. Fed-speak dominated the air as sellers followed through on topping out … Read more
In “Jim Bianco: “Arguably One of the Worst Forecasts In Fed History’” I wrote about the prospects of trading soaring interest rates with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT). I have recently and belatedly faded rallies in TLT by buying puts and taking small profits on the way back down. (TLT goes up when … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: How many times and how many ways does the Fed need to communicate its seriousness about normalizing monetary policy and fighting inflation? Apparently, the answer for Fed-speak is many times and a LOT of ways. Fed Governor Lael Brainard delivered one way with a speech on Tuesday titled “Variation in the Inflation … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: I stuck to my cautiously bullish short-term trading call in my last “Market Breadth” post. Signature stocks Apple and NVIDIA lead a relentless comeback that symbolizes a market that finally had nowhere to go but up. Buyers ignored a hawkish Federal Reserve and the escalation of violence from Russia’s invasion of the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: I did not back my way into an explanation for Wednesday’s post-Fed rally in the stock market, and I will not do so to explain the rest of the market’s impressively relentless comeback. In fact, the rally makes little sense given the prevailing narrative of fears over higher rates – not to … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I gave the summary for the week in my last “Market Breadth” post. I will just add here that the stock charts are full of images of a stock market running low on fuel. I tell just a small part of the narrative below. Stock Chart Reviews – Below the 50-day moving … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created massive human misery and a historic press of global economic sanctions. With war comes scarcity and the allocation of resources to destroying the resources of others. Financial markets are scrambling to adjust to the new global wartime economy. These charts are just a snapshot of some … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Trading with on-going headline risk is difficult for bulls and bears. I find it useful to pick a narrative, pick an anchor, and stay as disciplined as possible. My foundation remains with the principles of trading contrary to extremes. Last week, the market tested the extremes of oversold trading conditions and survived … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: A divergence still exists between the anxiety in financial markets and market breadth, but that divergence is no longer so promising. Sellers rushed into the close as rumblings rolled of an escalation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. After Putin followed through with a nighttime strike against Ukraine, stock market futures sold off sharply. … Read more