Daily State of the Markets

Is Caution Still Warranted Here?

For a couple months now, I've been opining that this is not the time to have one's foot to the floor in their portfolio. I've even gone so far as to say that some caution is warranted. And what has Ms. Market done in response? Push toward all-time highs, of course! Don't look now …

Goldilocks Looks To Be Alive And Well

The headlines blared that the July's Jobs Report was a "miss." This was due to the fact that, according to the Labor Department, the economy created 157,000 new jobs last month, which was below the consensus estimate of 190,000. As such, the bears gasped loudly and proclaimed that the eco…

A Worry Worth Considering

To be sure, there will be a lot of keystrokes used to talk about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) today. Frankly, it is very interesting to hear all the analysts talk about Apple's upside potential given the growth in services segment, the hardware deliveries, the higher than expected average selling…

#TechFail?

The latest worry on Wall Street is that tech is failing. And given that technology has been where investors have been going to find growth for many moons now, our furry friends in the bear camp say the recent tech wreck is a bad omen. To be sure, some big tech names had a rough go…

As Good As It Gets?

After a sloppy June, stock market investors appear to be enjoying the month of July. So far at least, the S&P 500 sports a gain of 3.75% for the month and is inching closer to that all-time high set back on January 26. And yet, many of my indicators aren't exactly in their happy place…

It's Time To Be Careful On That Ladder

Since we are deep into summer vacation season, I'm going to keep things brief this morning and let the indicators do most of the talking. My take on the current market action is the consolidation phase remains intact. Yes, the market has been moving cautiously higher since April. …

A Look At The Big-Picture

The original purpose for my oftentimes meandering morning market missive was to identify the driving forces behind the market action. The thinking was that putting to paper (so to speak) my thoughts on why Ms. Market was doing what she was doing from a short-term perspective, I stood a be…

Inflation Is Starting To Look Real

For years now, Fed officials have bemoaned the fact that inflation has been below their "target" of 2%. As such, the one of the primary goals of the Federal Reserve board has been to get inflation back up to levels deemed appropriate. As someone who came into the business in mid-1…

Divergences Are Yellow Flags

The NASDAQ - you know, the index where most of the market's hot stocks tends to trade - closed Friday at a fresh new all-time high. The S&P 500 appears to have broken out of the recent range. The small-cap indices are in uptrends and just a stone's throw from last week's record closes…

Let's All Play: Breakout or Fakeout?

CNBC's "Fast Money" kicked off their show Tuesday afternoon with a game they called "Breakout or Fakeout." To be honest, I usually have the T.V. on mute the vast majority of the day. However, this segment was fun to watch as the traders took turns making their "call" on whether stocks wil…