ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Housing Market Intro and Summary A continued respite from rising rates gave some breathing room for new home sales to stabilize in November while existing home sales continued to plunge with a dearth of inventory helping to suck air out of the room. Housing starts continued to plunge in parallel with home builder sentiment. However, … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary In my last Housing Market Review, I described how a housing recession was reflected in the worsening housing data, including the latest report on U.S. GDP. While new home sales made another surprise bounce in October, the rest of the housing data continued to worsen in the month. However, a … Read more
The seasonal trade in home builders continues to unfold more like a typical year. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) peaked in May on an absolute basis and relative to the S&P 500 (SPY). Since that peak, ITB is down 12.2% while the S&P 500 is UP 3.9%. This gap is so wide that … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary “When will the housing market crash?” I hear this question from people astounded by the housing market’s strong performance during the pandemic. The housing market is not heading into a crash anytime soon. Demand remains strong, inventories are scarce, mortgage rates are rock bottom, home buyers are in strong financial … Read more
Introduction I have supported and invested in precision policing and gunfire detection company ShotSpotter (SSTI) for four years. I have even attended an annual shareholder meeting, spoken with the CEO and other company executives, and received a tour of the Newark, CA headquarters. SSTI experienced its best trading days in a 1-year burst that took … Read more