Last Week: Legend has it that a young man ventured to inquire J.P. Morgan’s opinion as to the future course of the stock market. The alleged reply has become classic: “Young man, I believe the market is going to fluctuate.” From February 2016 until February 2018 the market violated that theory, rising 45% with very little fluctuations. Since then the market has fluctuated quite a bit, but hasn’t gone anywhere. The [...]
Last Week: The “candid and constructive” tweet rally from the previous Friday was short-lived as hopes of a trade deal evaporated by Monday morning after China said it would raise tariffs on U.S. goods and President Trump signed an executive order banning telecommunications equipment built by foreign adversaries (aimed at China’s Huawei Technologies). The market broke into a chorus of “I Don’t Like Mondays”, the 1979 classic from the Boomtown Rats, [...]
Last Week: “He rocks in the White House all day long Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song All the little traders on Wall Street Love to hear the President go tweet-tweet-tweet” Adapted from the Bobby Day classic “Rockin Robin” These are strange times indeed that we live in. Last Sunday around noon President Trump tweeted that the trade negotiations with the Chinese were going too slowly and that the tariff [...]
Last Week: First quarter corporate earnings continued to hop over the low bar that was set as positive earnings surprises reported by companies in multiple sectors (led by the Health Care sector) were responsible for a decrease in the overall earnings decline to 0.8% from 2.3% the week earlier. The market inched up to new record levels on Tuesday, however the unanimous decision by the Fed to leave rates unchanged on [...]