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....
'Stunning Loss of Confidence' So far 2021 has provided an incredibly smooth ride for investors, but the news flow last week suggested some turbulence on the horizon. The Delta Covid-19 variant cases and deaths surged, both consumer and producer prices spiked, consumer...
What You Need to Know Reflecting on the major market-moving storylines, the classic 1977 Meatloaf song, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” comes to mind: (1) corporate earnings were great; (2) the jobs report was very strong; and (3) BUT sadly Covid-19 cases are surging. On...
Corporate Earnings Going for Gold; Economic Data Reaches for Silver February 17th is a special day; in that, it is the birthday of both Michael Jordan and my wife. It also marked the top of the Chinese stock market, which has subsequently nosedived over 25%, including...
Never-Ending Rally Back on Track Despite the scary headlines, the “Fear Index” continues to falter. We concluded last week’s commentary noting that “U.S. stock futures followed the global markets lower over the weekend, and the “Fear Index” (VIX) jumped 6% going into...
Last Week: Whereas the major headline indexes set record highs again on Monday, the undertone of the market continues to soften, with declining issues increasingly outnumbering advancing issues. In fact, excluding the Fab FAANG Five (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix,...
Last Week: Early in the week, the market was singing “Mama Mia, here I go again!”, as COVID-19 resurfaced. Those fears were particularly apparent on Thursday when Japan declared a state of emergency and announced there would be no spectators at the Summer Olympics. On...
Last Week: We hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. One highlight at North Star was watching Joey Chestnut break his own world record at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th after devouring his 76th hot dog and bun in front of a packed...
Last Week: What a difference a weekend makes. The selling pressure from the previous Friday vanished into thin air, and a bounce-back rally kicked in on Monday morning that continued throughout the week. The S&P 500 closed Friday at another record high, posting...
Last Week: Chairman of the Federal Reserve is near the top of my list of extraordinary stressful jobs that I would hate to have. Currently, it would fall somewhere between a war-zone surgeon and an undercover narcotics officer on the Chicago Police Department. Poor...
Last Week: Since the end of April when Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissed inflation pressures as being temporary, “transitory” has become the new bullish buzzword for the stock and bond markets. The 5% year-over-year increase in the consumer price index reported on...
Last Week: “The heat is on, it’s on (Wall and Main) street, the heat is on, on, on." The economy has been rebounding sharply, and with that rebound, there has been a surge in inflationary pressures and related concerns over interest rate increases. As such, the market...
Last Week: Equity markets ground higher, fueled by (1) good earnings from economy re-opening companies and from several residential real estate-related companies; (2) a benign bond market that seems comfortable with the Fed’s ‘inflation is transitory’ party line; (3)...
Last Week: In our previous commentary we highlighted the FOMC meeting minutes, noting that “investors will scour the transcript for any cracks in the Fed’s conviction to keep short-term rates near-zero for the foreseeable future.” The surprising dialogue about...
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