ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Today I learned for the first time that J.P. Morgan (JPM) has a sizeable portfolio of alternative energy investments. Through J.P. Morgan’s Energy Investments group the company has grown a 6 gigawatt portfolio over the last 7 years. This multi-billion dollar portfolio is co-owned with 13 energy firms and is mainly focused on wind energy. … Read more
After solar stocks soared in September, expectations are riding high for solar companies to carry their earnings momentum from the second quarter’s reports into the third quarter’s reports. First Solar (FSLR) made a big step in the right direction by announcing that it received an additional 380 Megawatt in orders from existing customers for delivery … Read more
Canadian Solar (CSIQ): 20% Evergreen Solar (ESLR): 20% Yingli Green Energy (YGE): 14% JA Solar Holdings (JASO): 11% Trina Solar (TSL): 10% ReneSola (SOL): 9% These solar companies are the top six performing solar companies in my watchlist….not for the month or the year, but for the last TWO DAYS. While only three of the … Read more
The lack of trading volume has been a common knock on the market, making any and every rally difficult to trust. But this is a market of stocks, and volume must be showing up somewhere, right? I decided to run a few scans to track down what stocks have really captured the market’s interest in … Read more
Over the last few months of tracking the S&P 500 I have not given much thought to the “reverse head and shoulders” (H&S) pattern. It is now time to pay attention. Friday’s continuation of the current rally is not just part of a steady uptrend from the August lows that has successfully punctured through important … Read more
Two weeks ago, I first noted an impressive “stealth” rally in some solar stocks like SOL, LDK, and JASO. At the time, First Solar (FSLR) was flat on the year, but it still made the list because this flat performance was out-performing the general market. I also noted that FSLR was due for a pullback … Read more
The Bank of Japan (and/or the Japanese Ministry of Finance) has an excellent sense of timing technicals. Last night’s intervention to put an end to the on-going strength in the Japanese yen came just as the U.S. dollar looked ready to follow-through on its break of the important support at the 200-day moving average (DMA). … Read more
The rally in the British Pound may finally be on its last legs. I am sure the Bank of England hopes so as it meets to decide interest rates tomorrow. I wrote just last week about the potential for the pound to break out versus the U.S. dollar, and it has done so quite convincingly. … Read more
With tongue reaching for the cheek last week, I declared the market both extremely undervalued and very overvalued, guessing that “as earnings season grinds on, I suspect the near-predictable pattern of post-earnings fades will finally wear thin, giving way to more bullish behavior.” I did not expect the turn to happen so clearly and dramatically … Read more
Over the past several quarters I have looked to Acuity Brands (AYI) as a potential signal of the earnings season to come, especially when it comes to commercial real estate. For several quarters, AYI has reported dour news about its industry and the economy. Sometimes traders and investors sold the news, sometimes they bought it. … Read more