Market Gets Moody Again image

Market Gets Moody Again

Traders appear to have returned to a risk-off mode to start the holiday-shortened week. The drivers of the move are fairly obvious as Senator Manchin's announcement that he won't support the Biden "Build Back Better" plan and the bad news surrounding Omicron are causing a rethink of the p…
Santa Is Getting Tested image

Santa Is Getting Tested

While there is still time for the traditional Santa Claus rally to begin, the current correction in stocks, which so far at least falls into the "garden variety" category, goes against the positive market vibe typically seen at this time of year. It would be easy to say that the r…
Learning A New Letter image

Learning A New Letter

Longtime readers know that the primary purpose of my oftentimes meandering market missive is to identify the primary drivers of the market action. The idea is that if you know what is driving prices on a daily/weekly basis then you have a decent shot at staying in tune with primary trends…
Fed Decision, Inflation Data, EPS, and Most Importantly... image

Fed Decision, Inflation Data, EPS, and Most Importantly...

We are on the road heading back home to Colorado this morning, so I'm going to keep this brief. The key focus in the markets has returned to the spread of COVID as new lockdowns have been announced in places like Austria and Germany. With cases on the rise again here in the U.S., investor…
Market Model Update: 11.15.21 image

Market Model Update: 11.15.21

With winter starting to find its way to Colorado, my wife and I decided to head to the desert to enjoy another couple weeks of summer weather. As such, I'm going to let the indicators do the talking this week and next. So, let's get the week started with a review of the "state of …
Reasons For The Rally image

Reasons For The Rally

That giant hissing sound you may hear at the corner of Broad and Wall these days is the air escaping the bear camp's balloon. Cutting to the chase, the bulls now look to be in stampede mode and have been trampling their opponents on a daily basis. While everybody knows that the cu…
Looking On The Bright Side image

Looking On The Bright Side

The key data points the markets received were mixed last week on both the economic and earnings fronts. For example, while Consumer Confidence was up, the first read of Q3 GDP was weaker than expected. And while the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Starbucks (SBUX), and Apple (AAPL) reports disapp…
All About The Expectations image

All About The Expectations

The S&P 500 closed out the week just off fresh all-time highs. But, to many investors, the rally is definitely a head-scratcher. So, if you find yourself wondering how stocks can be correcting lower one minute and then back at all-time highs the next, here's my quick take on the situa…
Market Model Review: 10.18.21 image

Market Model Review: 10.18.21

The onset of earnings season appears to have energized the bulls as the S&P 500 finished the week closer to all-time highs than the recent lows. To be sure, the major indices remain entrenched in a trading range. But with some good news on the economic front (Core PPI was reported bel…
Looking Ahead: The Correction Will End When... image

Looking Ahead: The Correction Will End When...

It is said that stock market corrections are only "normal and healthy" until you are in the middle of one. The problem is it can be tough to see the bright side of the macro picture when volatility begins spiking, prices start to crater (and then recover, and then crater again), and all k…