Shifting Sentiment Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, a favorite pastime game was tug-of-war. Two teams pull on different ends of a rope until one group can get the flag in the middle past whatever obstacle separated the two groups – the game was particularly...
This Market Does Not Spook Easily October 2021 is shaping up to have more treats than tricks, following a scary September. After a rough start to the week, the market mounted a powerful rally on Thursday and Friday, with the S&P 500 posting a 1.82% gain to reach...
Objective? Reach the "Winner" Square The stock market over the last few months parallels Hasbro’s Chutes and Ladders: “an exciting up and down game for little children.” On Monday the market slid down with energy prices spiking, festering fears of a U.S. default, and...
Panic or Pivot? In the 1995 classic animated film “Toy Story” in a time of crisis Buzz Lightyear proclaims “Sheriff, this is no time to panic…” to which Sheriff Woody replies “This is the perfect time to panic!” Sheriff Woody would probably be experiencing incredible...
Stocks Move with the News It was a rollercoaster week on Wall Street, as investors dumped stocks on Monday as concerns over the possible collapse of China property company Evergrande and overall worries about China’s crackdown on indebted firms unnerved traders....
Friend, Foe, or Fiction? The 50-Day Moving Average. Stocks touched their lowest levels in four weeks Friday, with the S&P 500 closing slightly below its 50-day moving average. Some chart-reading traders have expressed concerns that a key support area has been...
New Vaccine Mandates The definitions of “transitory” found on the internet range from “of brief duration” to “not permanent.” We believe that the two major economic challenges of inflation and COVID-19 will not be brief or permanent, so perhaps somewhere in the middle...
Gloomy or Growth-y? The stock market continues to chug along to new record highs despite the extraordinary challenges presented by the pandemic during the last 18 months, as well as the stiffening headwinds still to be confronted with new variants, a bloated national...
Powell's Policy Persists On Friday, at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Chairman Powell delivered the message that whereas tapering is coming, the Delta variant makes the timing uncertain. He also made it clear that the plan to taper does not suggest that any...
Currency, Covid, Chaos, and (Yes) Catalysts In a week of troubling headlines, we take notice that the Dollar reached its highest level of 2021. We monitor the strength of the greenback as a proxy for the world’s perception of the attractiveness and safety of U.S....