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. stock market hardly reflected last week’s action-packed news. China scrambled to address a weakening economy with a massive stimulus program with news rolling nearly all week. In Japan, voters elected a Prime Minister who favors a stronger currency in the Japanese yen (FXY). Capping the anti-climactic feeling in U.S. stocks, … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in August, 2024? Financial markets quickly threw out a major downgrade from Citigroup for the housing sector. Hopes for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve continued to impact both the data and stock prices. While the on-going decline in mortgage rates has failed to … Read more
Alexandria Real Estate (ARE), a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in life science buildings, gets much love from analysts. According to Factset, ARE is currently one of the most loved companies in the S&P 500 (SPY). ARE is just one of two stocks whose analyst coverage consists 100% of buy ratings. This high “occupancy … Read more
(An audio version of this blog post is available on SoundCloud) A no regrets decision is a high quality decision. When backed by a systematic framework, preferably something like the decision chain which I use in my consulting practice, a decisionmaker has reasonably and practically exhausted all available options to improve the inputs to the … Read more
Uptrend in ITB: An Observation of 20-Day and 50-Day Moving Averages The calendar for the seasonal trade in home builders has come to an end. Yet, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) looks as strong as ever. The uptrend in ITB is well-defined by a primary uptrend in the 20-day moving average (DMA) (the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: At mid-week, the stock market looked poised to put on a defiant display of buying power. However, multiple negative headlines proved too much to bear. Hawkish Fed-speak greased the skids on Thursday. Another hot inflation report and escalating tensions at the Ukrainian border sealed the deal for angst to rule the day. … Read more
“…certainly with valuations where they are, I’m sure we’re going to go through a doozy of a correction this year. At some point. I don’t know when. And I don’t know why. But I do know, it never hurts to take profits and to keep some powder dry so that you have the psychological wherewithal … Read more
One of the great features of options trading is the protection it offers against large absolute losses from surprise gaps in price from the underlying stock. That protection came in handy when casino and hotel company Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) gapped down following news of a fresh regulatory crackdown in Macau, China. WYNN gapped down … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market breezed through August and now strolls into September. The S&P 500 breezed to a 2.9% gain for the month of August, its seventh month in a row of gains. The NASDAQ breezed even higher with a 4.0% gain for August. The stroll into September ignored the disappointment in the … Read more
A False Breakout I started the week with Micron Technology, Inc (MU) as my favorite trade prospect. The breakout from last week was near poetry. MU enjoyed buying support most of the week as it first pushed through resistance at its 200-day moving average (DMA) (the blue line in the chart below) and next sliced … Read more