Last Week: If the proof of the pudding is really in the eating, then the current economic policy recipe seems to be valid as the US numbers remained terrific with very strong manufacturing and non-manufacturing ISMs, and jobless claims this week were 203,000, the...
Last Week: Another record high for the stock market, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.93% and the Russell 2000 0.87%. There wasn’t much news, fake or otherwise, driving the action, and volume was light in the pre-holiday week trading. One might say the song remains the...
Last Week: Stocks hit new highs, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.86% to finally close above its January 26th top, while small stocks fared even better, as the Russell 2000 surged 1.93%. The often-cited adage is that the stock market climbs the wall of worry. I would...
Last Week: To the casual observer, it was a quiet week, with the S&P 500 posting a modest 0.59% gain, while the U.S. Dollar and bond markets were largely unchanged. On the other hand, there was tremendous daily volatility in the overall market, as well as...
Last Week: The S&P 500 slipped 0.25%, the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury slid 10 basis points to 2.85%, while the U.S Dollar strengthened over 1% to a new 2018 high. The chart below shows the link between the strength in the dollar and the S&P this year,...
Last Week: Our TIEs (Trade, Interest rates, Earnings) theme remained the dominate narrative, with relatively benign developments on the Trade and Interest rates front and continued spectacular Earnings. Unlike most quarters when analysts make downward revisions to...
Last Week: In the words of the legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, “You can’t forsake the ties that bind”. In today’s market those “TIEs” are Trade, Interest rates, and Earnings. Trade continues to dominate the narrative, probably because President Trump is a master...
Last Week: Wow, what a strange week. Let’s call it the Good, the Bad, and the Confusing. The Good: Corporate earnings are terrific. It now looks like 20.8% net profit growth on a 9% revenue increase. The Bad: US housing starts fell 12.3% in June to a nine-month low,...
Last Week: Global trade tensions once again dominated the news, as the U.S. announced additional tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. Curiously, the S&P 500 responded by rallying 1.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2.3%. I believe Fed Chairman Jerome...
Last Week: Goldilocks is still alive and well, as evidenced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics initial report on the labor situation in June, which was neither too hot nor too cold. While the unemployment rate increased slightly from 3.8% to 4.0%, the entire increase...