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 The stock market started the week in familiar melt-up mode, supported by a (temporary) thaw in the economic war between the U.S. and China. Optimism persisted until the Federal Reserve weighed in with its latest announcement on monetary policy, when Chair Jerome Powell balked at the idea of a December rate cut. … Read more
CEO Sam Altman launched OpenAI’s DevDay 2025 with a series of demos showing off the generative AI platform’s latest capabilities. I was particularly intrigued by demonstrations of features developed in partnership with several companies including Figma (FIG), Spotify (SPOT), Hubspot (HUBS), Coursera (COUR), and Zillow Group (ZG) (links go to the relevant section of the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week’s trading had something for almost everyone: volatility, churn, recovery, and a bank scare. A familiar story about renewed U.S.–China trade tensions expanded into a larger mosaic of market stress and resilience. Still, given market breadth remains broken, I see a market skating on the edge. The volatility index (VIX) summarizes … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The month of August featured three distinctly strong expansions of market breadth. The last expansion featured the largest single-day expansion I have ever seen. In between these episodes, the market showed signs of exhaustion. The latest exhaustion is centered on the AI trade. NVDA earnings slightly disappointed and included slowing revenue growth … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A bearish engulfing top pattern in the S&P 500 now seems like a distant memory. Yet, the melt-up in the stock market faces a new test. Just as the stock market enters its most dangerous months of the year in terms of drawdowns, a bearish divergence has emerged with market breadth. What … Read more