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 S&P 500 (SPY) finally broke down and succumbed to the selling pressure building up in the stock market. A “surprise” surge in inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) delivered the headline catalyst for a day of broad-based selling. Given market breadth was already in the process of narrowing, … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market is a cauldron of contradictions and divergences. Breakdowns below key support levels abound. Stocks suffer post-earnings fades even after companies report strong results, especially in both beaten up growth stocks and resilient big cap tech. Yet, the S&P 500 just rises above the steady erosion of market breadth with … Read more
The Federal Reserve released its report on Financial Stability with an interesting emphasis on potential vulnerabilities from “elevated risk appetites”. The Fed included an evaluation of valuation measures. The report even called out “meme stocks” as part of its evidence. However, the report stopped short of calling the market outright over-valued. Instead, the Fed took … Read more
Why Sell In May? “Sell in May” is an old stock market adage that advises investors to sell in May and leave the stock market alone until November. According to Investopedia, the adage identifies May through October as a period of under-performance. The adage survives despite its persistently poor performance as a stand-alone strategy. For … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week featured an intense barrage of earnings reports. The collective response on the major indices was a major yawn. The S&P 500 finished flat for the week. The NASDAQ and the iShares Trust Russell 2000 Index ETF both softened by 0.4%. Financials were a notable exception as the Financial Select Sector … Read more
North American: The United States “What we’re seeing now is an economy that seems to be at an inflection point….we feel like we are at a point where the economy is about to start growing much more quickly, and job creation coming in much more quickly…we see strong growth and strong job creation starting right … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The week began with two straight days of selling for the stock market. Almost everything was in place for a real pullback. Although the S&P 500 (SPY) was less than 2% off its all-time high, my favorite measure of breadth in the stock market, AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above … Read more
A Fresh Crack from the Currency Market At the time of writing, the Australian dollar versus the Japanese yen (AUD/JPY) is falling below its 50-day moving average (DMA) (the red line in the chart below) for the first time since last September. This move is the latest yellow, perhaps red, flag on the stock market … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The growth tantrum is almost a distant memory. Complacency is more the order of the day as the volatility index sinks further below 20 and the S&P 500 (SPY) hops and skips through all-time highs. Big cap tech is popular again. These stocks are helping to drag both the S&P 500 and … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A week ago, the fading of the growth tantrum further solidified my bullish read on the stock market. Last week, big cap tech took over from the growth tantrum. Buyers passed the baton in impression fashion but left small caps behind. Regardless, market dips are attracting buyers in a rotating fashion. The … Read more