Hope is Never a Great Investment Strategy
There is a great deal of discussion in the financial media by professional investors expressing a hope for the so-called “soft landing” as the Fed continues to fight inflationary pressures. Much of what was written and said in the week just passed reflected such hope-filled sentiment in reaction to a rally in stocks so far…
A Day of Reckoning Fast Approaches
Below is a three-year technical chart of the S&P 500 Index. This chart contains: The daily returns of the index (red and more volatile series) A 50-day moving average (blue line) A 200-day moving average (orange line) A relative strength line at the bottom (also in blue) Some market participants pay close attention…
The 2022 Stock Market Stats: Pops and Drops!
Below is a picture of the 2022 US Stock Market daily returns as measured by the S&P 500 Index through December 16th. In looking at the chart below, it’s rather obvious: 2022 will be a down year. The S&P is down 19%… There are ten trading days left in the year; as such, it seems…
Listen to the Money Talk
In April of this year (2022), we wrote a piece called “Money Heaven” in which we discussed money creation and destruction in the US economy. Briefly, this was a treatise postulating that unprecedented excess money growth was a leading cause of inflation. Moreover, we discussed the various ways the economy eliminates “excess” money. To…
Markets Are Seemingly “Climbing the Wall of Worry”
Markets rallied mid-week in response to remarks made on Wednesday by Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chairman Jerome Powell, raising hopes that inflation is receding and that most of the rate increases are behind us. Below is a graph for the week just passed depicting the price performance of popular US stock market indices. You…
Santa Claus Rally 2022?
Markets were up last week in an abbreviated trading week (see chart below). As we close November and ring in December, the debate among investors is whether we get a classical year-end “Santa Claus” rally. While a year-end rally has been reliable in the last many years, this year has been full of…
A Fresh Earnings Perspective
Here’s a fundamental truth: In the long term, stock prices follow earnings. With earnings season for the third quarter largely over, corporate earnings have remained relatively strong while forward earnings estimates are only slightly declining as recession expectations persist. According to FactSet: “Overall, 94% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported actual results…
A Nice Relief Rally
Here is what the major US stock market indexes did last week: Thursday’s return was a larger one-day upward move that has many proclaiming the worst of the bear market is over. The move on Thursday and the follow-through on Friday are largely a response to the annualized CPI reading of 7.7%, which…
All Hallows Eve and Fed Week: Trick or Treat?
Sometimes the cliché headline is the right choice! While the stock market is completing one of its best months in a long time (see chart above), we enter this week on All Hallows Eve with the specter of another 75-basis point increase in the Fed Funds rate on Wednesday. Many hope the Fed will…
This is not an economic or stock market crisis
With November election political campaigning in full swing, it seems like EVERYTHING is being characterized as a crisis these days. Border Crisis. Ukraine Crisis. Covid Crisis. Climate Crisis. Crime Crisis. Homelessness Crisis. Fentanyl Crisis. Inflation Crisis. Economic Crisis. These are a few of the things being characterized as a crisis in the current climate. Some…
A New Week
Below are US stock market returns for the week just past. The Dow managed to make a gain for the week while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Indexes headed further into bear market territory. As we head into the second week of quarterly earnings season, it is clear the market is processing two dominant factors…
What’s the S&P Worth?
The rally in stocks so far this year has been impressive. Here are the year-to-date returns for broad market averages through February 3, 2023: Nasdaq Index 14.77%, S&P 500 Index 7.86%, and Dow Jones Industrial average 5.40%. The hotly debated question is: at what level “should” stocks be trading given the Fed’s ongoing inflation battle,…