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 stock market fell into chaos all over again as the U.S. retaliated against China’s tariff retaliation, hiking tariffs up to 104%. This escalation halted a rally that started as solid follow-through from the bullish engulfing bottom from the previous trading day. The whipsaw action underscored the fragility of technical setups in … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in March, 2025? The bear market deepened for housing related stocks as they fell off the edge of a deeper malaise. Growing economic warfare between the U.S. and the world and the resulting chaos is adding to housing woes along with the usual culprit … Read more
Stock Market Commentary There is no support in a bear market. The market is extremely volatile, and conditions are changing daily. The market is showing clear signs of weakness, with all major trends pointing downward. The mixed messages from yesterday (Thursday) are converging more clearly on the messages of a bear market. The long-term, mid-term, … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in February, 2025? The bear market that scarred the landscape for builders returned. After January’s bear market, relief, the bear market is back and more deeply entrenched. The stocks and the housing data are even on the edge of a deeper malaise. On-going declines … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in January, 2025? The bear market that scarred the landscape for builders came to an end just ahead of an important December inflation report. Relief from that report combined with relief from a builder’s earnings report helped to seal the deal on the three … Read more
Introduction The U.S. housing market follows a seasonal pattern. The spring selling season typically represents the year’s peak of activity in the housing market. During this time, households try to settle into a new home before summer travel or well ahead of the Fall start to the next school year. Like retailers who eagerly anticipate … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in December, 2024? Suddenly, the housing market is mired in a broken narrative after a brief drop in bond yields created a (fake) boost in November. The weakness showed up in stubbornly high mortgage rates and the dour commentary from earnings reports. The data … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in November, 2024? October’s reckoning transformed into a rebound with a boost from a sharp drop in long-term interest rates. The partial recovery came just in time for the seasonal strength in the stocks of home builders. The housing data for October showed mixed … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in October, 2024? A reckoning that I anticipated finally came in the form of sharply lower prices for the shares of home builders. After resisting rising mortgage rates for a month, the stock market lost its appetite. Earnings have brought a dose of reality … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Another week, another tease for bears. A fade from resistance joined market breadth in flagging bearish signals for the stock market. Yet, bears are hard-pressed to find a good risk/reward entry, especially considering the on-going uptrends for 2024. The latest confounder for bears has been the market’s general ability to ignore rising … Read more