Market Calm Shattered – Tariff Shock Hits S&P’s Critical Support – The Market Breadth

AT50 (MMFI) confirmed overbought resistance and closed the gap higher from the China trade war ceasefire. This rejection is bearish by itself but support for the indices remains intact.

Stock Market Commentary A market calm emerged thanks to a pause on reciprocal tariffs and then a ceasefire in the US vs China trade war. This market calm shattered as a new tariff shock came in the form of President Trump threatening the European Union (EU) with a 50% tariff while at the same time … Read more

Overbought Trading Conditions, Yet Still Bullish – The Market Breadth

Overbought Trading Conditions, Yet Still Bullish

Stock Market Commentary We made it through another week without any major negative headlines impacting the stock market. Although late-breaking news took futures down due to Moody’s dropping the U.S. from its top credit rating, marking the loss of the last top-tier assessment of U.S. government debt, I expect the market impact to be minimal. … Read more

A Cliffhanger Under (200DMA) Resistance – The Market Breadth

A Cliffhanger Under (200DMA) Resistance - The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary The market ended the week on a quiet cliffhanger as major indices hovered under critical resistance levels. A defining theme was the muted reaction to major headlines, particularly around trade and stagflation risks. Despite the looming shadow of stagflation – a term not explicitly mentioned but clearly implied in last week’s Fed … Read more

A Hiccup in the Oversold Bounce from Weak GDP – The Market Breadth

A Hiccup In the Oversold Bounce from Weak GDP - The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary The stock market experienced a hiccup in an otherwise strong post-oversold bounce. The Q1 GDP report revealed a small contraction that surprisingly caught the market off guard. However, this contraction was driven primarily by a surge in imports as businesses rushed to get ahead of anticipated tariffs. I assume a lot of … Read more

A Familiar Theme As Indices Leave Latest Troubles Behind – The Market Breadth

Stock Market Commentary Two weeks ago I wrote how a “A DeepSeek Dive and A Tariff Toll” created the next shift in the market’s technical outlook. I stepped back from a bullish position on the market as a result. Now, a familiar theme has unfolded with the stock market looking ready to leave its latest … Read more

Was the Stock Market “Oversold Enough”? – The Market Breadth

AT50 (MMFI) once again avoided breaking the oversold threshold. Its sharp rebound set a new high for the year.

Stock Market Commentary The week opened with market breadth dropping to within five percentage points of the oversold threshold. This was the closest encounter with oversold since late October, 2023. The stock market never looked back from there. A favorable mid-week inflation report helped propel the stock market with the assistance of declining long-term bond … Read more

Market Breadth Firms to Start the Year – The Market Breadth

AT50 (MMFI) set a new low for 2024 before firming to start the year.

Stock Market Commentary The new year of 2025 got off to a rocky start with the weight of the last Federal Reserve decision on monetary policy pushing fresh losses across the indices. I assumed this price action signaled the market’s readiness to cash in on the capital gains that it did not want to register … Read more

Early Santa Rally Fails to Fade Fed Fallout – The Market Breadth

Early Santa Rally Fails to Fade Fed Fallout – The Market Breadth (Credit: Matti Mattila on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/65448940@N00/3054240654)

Stock Market Commentary Investopedia defines the Santa Rally very precisely: “A Santa Claus rally refers to the sustained increases found in the stock market during the last five trading days of December through the first two trading days of January.” Based on this definition, Santa is failing…and just as the stock market risks a January … Read more

Support Holds Firm Ahead of Holiday Week – The Market Breadth

Support Holds Firm Ahead of Holiday Week – The Market Breadth (Credit: David Kingham, https://www.flickr.com/photos/31583394@N04/8406338206)

Stock Market Commentary Imagine that. Key support holds firm across the major indices. A telling post-election reversal turned into proof positive that unrelenting bulls remain all-in for the stock market. Not even a further escalation in World War 3 brought pause to the rebounds off support (Russia fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine and … Read more

Post-Election Reversal Tests Support After Confirming Bearish Signal – The Market Breadth

The S&P 500 (SPY) roundtripped to its post-election open, converging with the October high and 20DMA support.

Stock Market Commentary The stock market has a natural law of “physics.” Overly enthusiastic trading, whether up or down, eventually meets an opposite and sometimes equal force. This natural instability of extremes forms a basis of my market breadth trading rules. The enthusiastic post-election surge exhausted buyers enough to create a post-election reversal. Moreover, my … Read more