Last Week: Rising interest rates, rising corporate profits, and company specific news, were the three main drivers in the market, which finished modestly positive as the S&P 500 posted a 0.52% gain. The Ten-Year Treasury yield jumped 12 basis points to 2.95%, its highest level in four years. We are not short-term traders at North Star, but I think we are in the danger zone, since much of the volume comes [...]
Last Week: The short story is that the S&P 500 gained 1.99%, as easing trade tensions with China, strength in the Energy sector, and the outset of a very strong earnings season provided the backdrop. The long story is that each day exhibited volatile swings, with the market gapping up on the opening Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and gapping down on the opening Wednesday and Friday. The pockets of turbulence came [...]
Last Week: It was a turbulent week in what is developing into a volatile year in the stock market. In fact, we have already had more than three times as many days of 1% or more changes in the S&P 500 this year than we had in all of 2017. Additionally, all the major indices are in the red year to date, with the S&P 500 now down 2.59% after declining [...]
Last Week: A rally on Thursday capped off a volatile holiday-shortened week, and left the equity indices in the green, with the S&P 500 posting a 2.03% gain. Technology stocks drove most of the swings, as the debate raged between the the sector sell-off being “overdue” or “overdone”. Facebook attracted most of the media attention, as the company came under fierce attacks for their data practices. Nevertheless, the Company’s shares managed [...]