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 is down 4.1% month-to-date. This loss makes this month a below average September for a maximum drawdown and fulfills September’s reputation as one of the index’s three most dangerous months of the year. As I noted last week, August’s extreme drawdown significantly increased the risk of September being worse … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Bears still look ready to bow out, but they still have their paws firmly planted on high-tech stocks, especially semiconductors. The market rotations out of tech are nudging enough stocks higher, especially small caps, to rechallenge the threshold defining overbought conditions for market breadth. The stark divergence in stocks greatly reduces the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary After just acknowledging politics could deliver on-going surprises for traders and investors, both up and down, I certainly did not expect the first day of trading after that post to confirm my assessment. On Sunday, President Biden bowed out the 2024 Presidential campaign and endorsed VP Kamala Harris. The stock market greeted … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The latest overbought period lasted two days, a typical duration. However, the start of the period was atypical given the fuel from historic heroics from small cap stocks. The end of the overbought period was remarkable by delivering some of the clearest topping signals of the year. Key indices that soared into … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The stock market’s bearish divergence is too strong to ignore. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ achieved all-time highs while market breadth sunk again this week. Both short-term and long-term market breadth indicators are at key support levels. Even if market breadth somehow rebounds from current levels, I find myself getting yet … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week was an intense week of trading. The ever-escalating conflict in the Middle East disturbed markets. However, the initial negative reaction in futures market was mostly erased by the time of the market open on Thursday. The indices even managed to gain ground before getting faded. Thus, the market still fundamentally … Read more
Stock Market Commentary April showers have arrived in the form of stockdrops instead of raindrops. After a near relentless push higher every month since November, the S&P 500 is down 4.4% month-to-date. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ have confirmed bearish breakdowns and the ETF of small caps, IWM, is again in a bear … Read more
Stock Market Commentary There is a deepening irony in my on-going bearishness on the stock market. The sector most visibly responsible for the anti-bearish animal spirits leaning against poor market breadth is the same sector I remain unapologetically bullish about: Artificial Intelligence (AI). The ironic contrast was in full display last week as the bullish … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week repeated a familiar story. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ closed up for the week. Since the October lows, each index has only suffered one down week. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF was part of the party until the calendar flipped to 2024. The ETF of small caps lost altitude … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Bring on the bears…The process terminating a historically extended overbought period started with the first trading day of the year. While the S&P 500 recovered from the year’s initial fit of selling, small caps did not. The sagging fortunes of small caps have now returned the related ETF to bear market territory. … Read more