As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it would be an epic understatement to say that 2020 has been a most unusual year. In our family my birthday on March 12 comes first in the calendar and my son Alex’s on November 19th comes last. Flashing back to March 12th, I...
Markets: Monday morning Pfizer announced that early data from its coronavirus vaccine shows it is more than 90% effective with no serious side effects. The study should be concluded by the end of the month with the likelihood of emergency FDA approval to follow post...
Markets: What a difference a week makes. A blue undertow (Biden won, but the Senate appeared likely to remain with a Republican majority) swept into the sea of red and turned the market green. Volatility vanished and FOMOTINATE (Fear Of Missing Out There Is No...
For the next few weeks, we are going to format the Blog to cover the topics that seem to be of most interest, those being the markets, stimulus, economic reports, earnings reports, and COVID-19. We would appreciate any relevant feedback on this new layout. The...
Last Week: The song remained the same on Wall Street with a disconcerting level of COVID-19 cases and deaths combined with dysfunctional drama in D.C., somewhat offset by promising vaccine development announcements. The market experienced roller coaster daily swings...
Last Week: Hot tech IPOs and renewed optimism on the development of COVID-19 vaccines provided a springboard for a rally in the markets on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday afternoon’s FOMC meeting poked the bears back into action. The Nasdaq 100 sank as much as 2.8%...
Last Week: At lunch on Friday I saw a band called “The Momentum Traders” singing a somber tune: Yesterday The market was such an easy game to play Now it looks as though might stocks might sway Oh, I believe in yesterday Suddenly My portfolio isn’t what it used to be...
Last Week: The S&P 500 gained 0.64% to finish at 3372.85, just fractionally below the record close of 3386.15 set on February 19 of this year. It briefly reached an all-time intra-day high Wednesday, before dipping lower later in the afternoon. Both the bond...
Last Week: The market continued to rebound fueled by better than expected corporate earnings, hope for another round of helicopter money from the government, and optimism over COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics development. Reality Check: 1) Second quarter earnings...
Last Week: The market got off to a nice start on Monday after a weekend of significantly lower coronavirus deaths and bullish economic news from China’s state-run media. The middle of the week was dominated by a surge in COVID-19 cases and cautionary comments from Dr....
Last Week: P=MV P=Momentum M=Mass V=Velocity The S&P 500 set another record on Thursday, as the upward momentum powered stocks through the destabilizing news flow from the Middle East. A minor sell-off on Friday following a tepid jobs report left the S&P 500...
Last Week: The economic trends remained in place as 2019 wrapped up as the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits at the end of 2019 fell slightly, showing the pace of layoffs in the U.S. remains near a half-century low. Initial jobless claims...
Last Week: It was a pretty quiet news week, as the Wall Street Bears remained in hibernation, while the Chicago Bears emerged (a win is a win). As we moved into the ninth inning of earnings season, the blended (combines actual results for companies that have reported...
Last Week: Treasury yields rose sharply during the week after signs that U.S. consumer spending remained strong and on receding trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Additionally, both the CPI and PPI showed some signs of inflation. The “Crowd” got caught all-in...
Last Week: My commentary from the previous week finished on an upbeat note, “The tone on trade improved over the weekend after President Trump said that Tim Cook made a “very compelling argument” that the tariffs on Chinese imports gave Samsung an edge over Apple....
Last Week: The market opened modestly higher Monday morning in response to the shift away from imposing tariffs on Mexico over the weekend and then treaded water the rest of the week to register 0.47% gain by the closing bell on Friday. The Ten Year-Treasury rate was...
Last Week: The last six months have certainly been “interesting”. A dramatic rally in January and February recovered about most of the horrific losses of October- December, followed by a brief nasty sell-off to kick off March which quickly reversed into a Mad March...
Last Week: Alongside the Chicago Bears, the Wall Street bears were major losers this week. It was the best of times, as there was news that moderated the bear market narrative driven by concerns over the economy, fed policy, and the trade war. As for the economy,...
Last Week: At the end of August, we noted a disconnect between the news flow and the markets performance: “The often-cited adage is that the stock market climbs the wall of worry. I would suggest that the current market is instead climbing the wall of “whatever”,...
Last Week: In the NFL, the Chicago Bears had a bye on Sunday, which means they didn’t get to play. Apparently, the Wall Street Bears followed suit, as the S&P 500 staged an impressive 4.85% rally without meeting much resistance. It was the S&P 500’s best...
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