Good Economic News Sends Stocks Into Rapid Retreat – The Market Breadth

rapid retreat (Credit: I'm still running away by Vincepal on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: I expressed my surprise after the stock market soared in response to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation-fighting speech. I thought Powell simply reiterated known information with more reminders of the Fed’s inflation-fighting commitment. Since then, two strong economic reports in a row have sent the stock market into rapid retreat from that … Read more

Stocks Rush Back to Overbought Despite Powell’s Fresh Inflation-Fighting Warnings – The Market Breadth

rush back (Credit: Oskar running in the snow II by Tambako the Jaguar from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Social unrest from fresh COVID lockdowns in China are already a distant memory for the U.S. stock market. Just as quickly as the stock market bearishly failed once again to hold overbought trading conditions, market breadth flipped the script to surge and rush back to overbought. Buyers and bulls celebrated a speech … Read more

Bullard Feeds A Bearish Trading Signal – The Market Breadth

bullard feeds bears (Credit: Don't feed bears by wili_hybrid, from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard did his best to dissuade financial markets from optimistic interpretations of recent softish inflation reports. The press release summarizing recent remarks was enough to send chills in the Fed pause/plateau/pivot theorists: “the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be … Read more

The Fed Frowns At the Latest Bear Market Breakthrough – The Market Breadth

Fed frowns at latest bear market rally

Stock Market Commentary: I continue to underestimate just how much these bear market rallies price in misplaced optimism over monetary policy from the Fed. Although Chair Jerome Powell remained overall consistent with the Fed’s hawkish, inflation-fighting message, the stock market plunged after an initial post-release surge. Accordingly, the latest bear market breakthrough came to an … Read more

The Market’s Ceiling Moves From Resistance to Support – The Market Breadth

resistance to support (Credit: Girls on trampolines by Bryan Peters on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: What was resistance for over two months is slowly becoming support for the stock market. The bullish trading action of the last week created an important breakout that confirmed the bottoming action from the previous week’s bullish engulfing pattern. While the stock market may continue to chase its tail before fighting its … Read more

THIS CPI Shocker Ended Oversold Trading With A Bullish Signal – The Market Breadth

bullish engulfing - laugh at shocker (credit: OMG! by littleREDelf from Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: A month ago, a CPI Shocker brought a bear market rally to an abrupt end and created an historically bad September. Today’s CPI Shocker, another inflation reading that came in hotter than expected (imagine that), generated a completely different, and bullish, response. The stock market gapped down at the open and buyers … Read more

Oversold Conditions Stretch At the Edge of the Year’s Lows – The Market Breadth

stretch (credit: Lynn Friedman on Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Extreme trading behavior finally appeared right after I insisted the stock market looked uninteresting despite dropping into oversold conditions. Oversold conditions did a stretch toward the year’s lows and created enough concern to finally send the volatility index soaring. Looming over the trading action all day was a collapse in the British … Read more

A Synchronized Breakout Flips the Script On Sentiment – The Market Breadth

synchronized breakout (credit: Nixter https://www.flickr.com/photos/12097621@N00)

Stock Market Commentary: The confluence of market-moving news the last two days of the week resolved into a stock market looking incrementally healthier. A synchronized breakout above resistance at respective 50-day moving averages (DMAs) flipped the script on the negative sentiment that dominated trading going into last week. While weakness in the U.S. dollar from … Read more

Overdue Relief Rally Stretches Markets Toward Key Resistance – The Market Breadth

Credit: Great Stretching by ianhun2009 (Flickr)

Stock Market Commentary: Even sellers in a bear market exhaust themselves at some point. That point happened to coincide with the latest product announcements from Apple Inc (AAPL). So once again, AAPL finds itself sitting right at the focal point of an important market juncture. Across the major indices, the day’s relief rally generated a … Read more

And Then There Was Just One – The Market Breadth

and then there was just one (credit gato-gato-gato)

Stock Market Commentary: And then there was just one. The S&P 500 (SPY) is once again the lone index of three that still trades just outside the clutches of the bear. The signs were flashing red last week as the bear market looked like it warmed right back up. The technicals of market breadth combined … Read more