Spreading Cheer So far December has delivered a lump of coal to investors, with the market declining six of the seven trading days. The S&P 500 dropped 3.4% last week, while the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 fared even worse, shedding 4.0% and 5.1% respectively. The...
Soft-ish It’s beginning to look like Goldilocks might be hitching a ride in Santa’s sled, with the odds for a “softish” landing continuing to improve. Even the big, bad, Fed Chair Jerome Powell restrained from huffing and puffing and blowing the economy down during...
Tasty The financial markets gave us tasty reasons to be thankful, with the S&P 500 advancing 1.5% the NASDAQ gaining 0.7% and the Russell 2000 rising 1%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 2.5-1, and all the equity sectors finished in the green. The yield on...
Piling on Pessimism The pessimism pendulum oscillated between fear of inflation and fear of recession, with a brief swing over to optimism following an encouraging report that confirmed the downward trend in inflation. The producer price index for October released on...
In Memory of Sheldon Goodman It is with great sadness that we report that our beloved Sheldon Goodman passed away in his sleep Thursday night after heroically battling multiple illnesses throughout the years. Shel began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New...
Shaky Start November got off to a shaky start with the S&P 500 slipping 3.4%, the Nasdaq nosediving 5.7%, and the Russell 2000 retreating 2.6%. Almost the entire decline came in the last hour of trading on Wednesday, courtesy of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press...
Sugar Rush The stock market got a pre-Halloween sugar rush, with the S&P 500 3.9% higher, the Nasdaq showing a 2.2% gain, and the Russell 2000 jumping 6.0%. The rally from the previous Friday continued through Tuesday, but disappointing results from Alphabet and...
Rally Reignited A spoonful of sugar from the Fed made the medicine go down, as the market indexes posted their biggest weekly percentage gains since June, with the S&P 500 finishing up 4.8% for the week, the Nasdaq Composite jumping 5.2%, and the Russell 2000...
Pressure The stock market continued to be under selling pressure, as the S&P slid 1.6%, the Nasdaq dropped 3.1%, and the Russell 2000 shed 1.2%. Health care and Financials shares fared better thanks to solid earnings reports from several of the key components of...
Not So Hot Our previous commentary was titled “Bad News Bears”, but perhaps “Bad News Bulls” or “Good News Bears” would be a more appropriate description. Indeed, stock traders continued to obsess on future Fed rate hikes, with good news such as the strength in the...