All-Time Highs Defy October’s Warnings – The Market Breadth

All-Time Highs Defy October’s Warnings – The Market Breadth (Credit: zoe kahana, https://www.flickr.com/photos/25093808@N00/225536122)

Stock Market Commentary October is the third of the stock market’s three most dangerous months. October, 2024 started with a convergence of bad news tailor-made to fulfill October’s seasonal destiny: intensifying war and geo-political tensions, two intense hurricanes, the looming contentiousness of the U.S. presidential election, another failure from the overbought threshold (bearish according to … Read more

A Return to the Giddy Anticipation of Rate Cuts – Market Breadth

A Return to the Giddy Anticipation of Rate Cuts - Market Breadth (Credit: Reuters)

Stock Market Commentary The stock market poetically swung from the depths of despair with a seasonal September drawdown to a sharp rebound in giddy anticipation of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The highly anticipated meeting has the potential to set the market’s tone for the remainder of the year. If Chair Jerome … Read more

A Stock Market Waiting for the Next Buy Signal – The Market Breadth

waiting out the rate cycle (Credit: waiting by max_thinks_sees on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary At the beginning of August, you might have looked uninformed predicting that the S&P 500 would end up printing its 4th straight monthly gain. At its lows, the index wiped out gains from the previous two months and almost reversed May as well. Now, the index hovers just below its all-time high … Read more

Jackson Hole Redux: Stock Indices Are Back Where They Started – The Market Breadth

Jackson Hole redux (Credit: Welcome to Jackson Hole Sign by Latham Jenkins on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary The annual Jackson Hole confab of central bankers starts this coming Thursday. Almost like technical poetry, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are back to the highs directly preceding Jackson Hole 2022. Depending on your perspective, this Jackson Hole redux either represents a bullish confirmation of the market’s resilience after 18 months … Read more

Emergency Exit Looms As Market Teases Oversold Conditions – The Market Breadth

emergency exit

Stock Market Commentary: The Federal Reserve was an anti-climactic headliner last week. The Fed proceeded with a 25 basis points rate hike couched in words that suggested that inflation remained the Fed’s biggest concern. In the Q&A portion of the press conference, Chair Jerome Powell essentially downgraded the Panic of 2023 to the Speed Bump … Read more

Project Calm from the Feds Bounces Stocks Away from Oversold – The Market Breadth

calm

Stock Market Commentary: The Feds delivered on Sunday as Janet Yellen promised. The FDIC, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve joined forces to offer emergency financial backing and reassurances for the banking system, a kind of “Project Calm” to project calm. The Federal Reserve even came up with a new acronym that looks like a … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews – Snapshots of Forlorn Stocks

Stock Market Commentary I earlier wrote about a forlorn stock market writing a love note to the Federal Reserve. This love note comes in the form of a basket of sell-offs. The selling is so broad and so deep that traders could throw a dart and find descriptive stock charts. The examples below are some … Read more

Stock Chart Reviews: Snapshots of A Disappointing Start to the New Year

Stock Market Commentary The stock market indices benefited from a strong 2021. year. However, under the surface, declining market breadth betrayed the bullish narrative for a wide swath of stocks. A disappointing start to the new year for the indices was even worse for those stocks already limping into the end of last year. The … Read more