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 U.S. economy remains fundamentally strong, despite recent mixed data. Recent developments have increased the risk of a future adverse outcome. Our fortress principles are designed to withstandany operating environment.” JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM), Investor Day 2022, Firm Overview, page 12 Starting from oversold conditions, the market was looking for … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The latest bear market bounce was an even closer call than the last one. This time around, Apple Inc (AAPL) failed to lead the S&P 500 away from the brink. AAPL closed below its October, 2021 low the previous day and warned technicians that the stock’s leadership was failing. So when AAPL … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: In the middle of last week, the S&P 500 was poised to hit bear market territory. Conditions were ripe with the stock market trading in deeply oversold territory and other indices toiling deeply in bear markets; a sharp rebound could happen at any time for any excuse. Both the S&P 500 and … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Last week delivered a series of confirmed breakouts that served to uphold bullish belief in the stock market. Even as the overall rally looks to continue, the market’s most troubled corners showed weakness at the end of the week. These holdouts failed to break through important resistance levels. Some of these growth … 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 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 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 I earlier wrote about a promising divergence between anxiety and breadth in the stock market. However, I cannot help rubbernecking the market’s crashes and accidents. They tell dramatic stories about the folly in price action that can come with easy monetary policy and free money. The market goes through cycles of excitement … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A promising week of post-oversold trading ended in tensions over inflation, interest rates, and Ukraine. Overall, the stock market remains locked in churn. Yet, the view from individual stocks can provide cause for greater alarm. End of the week selling in big cap tech raised a red flag against my overall bullishness … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week was full of dramatic price swings. Traders reacted in extreme ways to key earnings results. The wild behavior cascaded out to related stocks. Some of the collateral damage in the blast radius likely came from portfolio managers scrambling to rebalance holdings. I expect this kind of action to continue through … Read more