Market Wrap
08:31:36 PM EDT | 05/16/2012
Another Failed Rally Attempt
By Keene Little | The stock market has now been down 10 out of the past 11 days. It's time for a bounce or a crash and we'll soon know which it will be.
Market Wrap
08:49:22 PM EDT | 05/15/2012
Clear Breakdown
By Jim Brown | Market action today left no doubt about direction as critical support levels failed
Market Wrap
05:06:54 PM EDT | 05/14/2012
Euro or Drachma: That Is the Question
By Linda Piazza | On a day with no important economic releases here in the U.S., Europe, California and erring companies set a negative tone.
Market Wrap
10:31:57 PM EDT | 05/12/2012
$2 Billion Hiccup
By Jim Brown | Friday started off negative after JP Morgan confessed a $2 billion loss for a trade gone bad. After a brief rebound the indexes finished in the red once again.
Market Wrap
06:14:21 PM EDT | 05/10/2012
DOW SNAPS LOSING STREAK
By Thomas Hughes | Stock futures rose this morning on fresh economic data. Economic data and world news, or lack of it, boosted stocks through the day. Jobless claims and statements from Chairman Ben Bernanke helped to ease growing concerns of stagnating US domestic growth.
Market Wrap
08:28:19 PM EDT | 05/09/2012
European Uncertainty Holds Sway Over Markets
By Keene Little | Worry over what is happening in Europe knocked stock markets back down and once again the U.S. market spent most of the day clawing its way back from deep in the hole but closed in the red again.
Market Wrap
07:03:58 PM EDT | 05/08/2012
Dow Down For Fifth Day
By Thomas Hughes | Continued uncertainty over the state of European financial reform depressed stocks for the fifth day in a row. Potential new government stances are threatening the current bailout in Greece and traders are questioning whether or not the rest of the Union, especially Germany, will stand for further negotiating. The concerns are adding to fears brought on by mixed economic and earnings information here at home.
Market Wrap
05:15:38 PM EDT | 05/07/2012
Election Results
By Linda Piazza | The behavior of U.S. futures Sunday evening predicted a challenging market environment today, but the price action proved tame.
Market Wrap
06:04:34 PM EDT | 05/05/2012
Stock Market Finishes Worst Week of the Year
By Keene Little | Following Tuesday's strong rally it was looking like we'd have a good week. Instead, the selloff from Tuesday's high gave us the worst week of the year. Now we look for evidence to see if it's just a pullback correction or the start of something more to the downside.
Market Wrap
06:27:16 PM EDT | 05/03/2012
Data Mixed, Payroll Report Looms
By Thomas Hughes | Today's economic data continued to be mixed. Without a clear sign of economic direction the markets pull back awaiting the non-farms payroll report tomorrow.
Market Wrap
08:34:54 PM EDT | 05/02/2012
Market Can't Make Up Its Mind
By Keene Little | Between the end of April and the first two trading days of May traders have been taken for a ride as the market tries to figure out if things are getting better or worse.
Market Wrap
08:55:50 PM EDT | 05/01/2012
Up, Up and Away?
By Jim Brown | There was no "Sell in May" but one day does not make a trend.
Market Wrap
05:50:32 PM EDT | 04/30/2012
Time to Go Away?
By Linda Piazza | Was today's decline a sign of things to come or just a small decline that doesn't mean much?
Market Wrap
04:27:21 PM EDT | 04/28/2012
Earnings Power
By Jim Brown | Better than expected earnings overcame weak economics and Spanish downgrades to power the markets to a three week high.
Market Wrap
05:42:52 PM EDT | 04/26/2012
Economy and Earnings Wrestle for Spotlight
By Thomas Hughes | A mixed bag of earnings reports and economic data seemed to weigh on the markets early in the day but steady and persistent buying sent the Dow up over 100 points.
Market Wrap
07:46:00 PM EDT | 04/25/2012
An AAPL A Day Keeps the Bears Away
By Keene Little | AAPL's rally gave NDX its best day of the year and Bernanke didn't spoil the party. Now all the bulls need to do is get some follow through to the upside.
Market Wrap
09:16:17 PM EDT | 04/24/2012
Apple Beats Then Warns
By Jim Brown | After declining 10 of the last 11 sessions Apple announced blowout earnings then warned on weakness in the current quarter.
Market Wrap
06:30:32 PM EDT | 04/23/2012
Jerking on the Puppet Strings
By Linda Piazza | Ahead of this week's FOMC decision, U.S. equities jerked around in response to puppet strings pulled in Europe.
Market Wrap
09:09:56 PM EDT | 04/21/2012
Volatility at Tops and Bottoms
By Jim Brown | A key sign of a top or bottom in the market is a sharp increase in volatility like we saw last week.
Market Wrap
06:47:19 PM EDT | 04/19/2012
Market Struggles with Earnings and Economy
By Thomas Hughes | Economic data and future outlook outweigh earnings. The major indexes had broad losses spurred on by mixed economic data.
Market Wrap
08:00:10 PM EDT | 04/18/2012
Bulls Give Back A Little
By Keene Little | This being one of the more bullish weeks of the year it may have been disappointing to see a down day but so far it's just a pullback.
Market Wrap
08:19:39 PM EDT | 04/17/2012
Short Squeeze Deja Vu
By Jim Brown | After a week of selling on worries over Spain and earnings the shorts were surprised again on unexpected good news.
Market Wrap
06:04:02 PM EDT | 04/16/2012
A Disparaging Word
By Linda Piazza | A few disparaging words were spoken today.
Market Wrap
09:39:39 PM EDT | 04/14/2012
Trend Change?
By Jim Brown | The three Es of Europe, Economics and Earnings combined to produce a trend change in the U.S. markets.
Market Wrap
06:35:16 PM EDT | 04/12/2012
Earnings Season Expectations Trumps Data
By Thomas Hughes | Economic data weighed on the markets early this morning but seemed to be shrugged off in anticipation of this seasons earnings reports. The market is eagerly awaiting this quarters numbers which have started off OK. Expectations got a boost today when speculation that China's GDP is outpacing estimates. Financial and materials stock led the markets today on renewed hopes of global economic expansion.
Market Wrap
02:59:34 PM EDT | 04/11/2012
Dead Cat Bounce or Start of Next Rally
By Keene Little | The market was short-term oversold and a bounce was to be expected. We'll soon find out if it was just a dead cat bounce or the start of something that will take us to new highs.
Market Wrap
09:16:04 PM EDT | 04/10/2012
Losses Accelerate
By Jim Brown | The Dow lost another 213 points and the Nasdaq 55 in the worst losing streak since December.
Market Wrap
06:23:32 PM EDT | 04/09/2012
Story Stocks Fill the Vacuum but Don't Warm Up the Mood
By Linda Piazza | Most European bourses and some Asian ones were closed overnight. We had no important economic releases. Our market news focused on story stocks, but equities reacted to Friday's Non-Farm Payrolls.
Market Wrap
09:48:05 PM EDT | 04/07/2012
Inflection Point
By Jim Brown | Nonfarm payrolls plunged unexpectedly on Friday causing S&P futures to drop -20 points.
Market Wrap
07:24:41 PM EDT | 04/05/2012
Dow Down, Week Ends Early
By Thomas Hughes | The Dow Jones Average added a third day to the latest losing streak. Mixed economic data, fears from Europe and anticipation of tomorrow's jobs report kept traders out of the market. Trading is closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday and will reopen on Monday.
Market Wrap
07:29:47 PM EDT | 04/04/2012
Market Goes Through a Little Withdrawal
By Keene Little | Following yesterday's FOMC minutes, showing a reluctance to add more monetary stimulus at this time, it was a 'round-the-world selloff. It seems the market is not happy without more drug money.
Market Wrap
09:14:28 PM EDT | 04/03/2012
Fed Spoils the Party
By Jim Brown | The FOMC minutes revealed the Fed was done spiking the punch and partygoers needed to sober up.
Market Wrap
06:39:20 PM EDT | 04/02/2012
Only Scattered April Showers
By Linda Piazza | April showers appeared in scattered countries' market performances across the globe, but weather in our markets proved mostly sunny here in the U.S.
Market Wrap
09:31:42 PM EDT | 03/31/2012
Voluntary Taxation
By Jim Brown | The Mega Millions Lottery is a voluntary form of taxation for those bad at math.
Market Wrap
06:12:32 PM EDT | 03/29/2012
Jobless Claims Weigh On Market
By Thomas Hughes | Earnings season is beginning to heat up and so far there has not been much to be excited about. Economic data continues to come in mixed and makes me ask the questions is the economic recovery really expanding or are we reaching a cyclical peak.
Market Wrap
07:55:19 PM EDT | 03/28/2012
The Bernanke Bounce Given Back
By Keene Little | The post-Bernanke bounce, on Monday, was given back with today's low but the bulls defended support and the ball remains in their court.
Market Wrap
09:31:44 PM EDT | 03/27/2012
Monday Hangover
By Jim Brown | Monday's short squeeze may have fun for those already long but Tuesday was definitely a hangover day where the celebration enthusiasm faded.
Market Wrap
05:33:21 PM EDT | 03/26/2012
Accommodative, Accommodative, Accommodative
By Linda Piazza | Before the market open this morning, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke whispered sweet nothings in the ears of market participants.
Market Wrap
07:33:27 PM EDT | 03/24/2012
Worst Week of 2012
By Jim Brown | The Dow declined -1.1% and the S&P -0.5% while the Nasdaq gained ground. Hopefully all future sell offs follow this minimalist trend.
Market Wrap
06:18:52 PM EDT | 03/22/2012
Global Fears Weigh On Markets
By Thomas Hughes | Economic data raises new fears of widespread global slowdown. PMI data from China and Europe has sparked fears of increasing global slowdown. The US markets traded down despite our own positive data.
Market Wrap
07:54:09 PM EDT | 03/21/2012
Market Holds Up But Chinks Appearing in Bull's Armor
By Keene Little | The bulls have done nothing wrong yet but there are signs they might be ready for a longer rest. Tonight's review will also look at the longer-term tech indexes to show why this could be an important top.
Market Wrap
10:42:21 PM EDT | 03/20/2012
First Day of Spring
By Jim Brown | The first day of spring did not produce any green shoots in the market as worries over China weighed on stocks.
Market Wrap
05:43:58 PM EDT | 03/19/2012
CDS Relief, QEIII Talk, BAC and a Side of Apples
By Linda Piazza | U.S. markets reacted to news about credit default swaps, hints of QEIII and stock announcements.
Market Wrap
08:42:27 PM EDT | 03/17/2012
S&P Only 161 Points from Historic High
By Jim Brown | Talking about approaching historic highs is the best way to jinx them. Market reporters were doing their best on Friday to do just that.
Market Wrap
06:42:02 PM EDT | 03/15/2012
Dow Closes Near 4 Year Highs
By Thomas Hughes | The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed today near 4 year highs. The Dow continued its climb past 13,000 and the S&P breached 1,400. Financials and Transports led the advance.
Market Wrap
07:50:58 PM EDT | 03/14/2012
Consolidation Day to Absorb Recent Gains
By Keene Little | Following yesterday's big day we saw the indexes trade in a very narrow range, absorbing the recent gains. That's bullish price action except that the consolidation is at/near potentially important resistance levels. The bottom line is bulls are still in control.
Market Wrap
10:03:27 PM EDT | 03/13/2012
Super Squeeze
By Jim Brown | Surprise headlines were popping up all over today and the result was a super short squeeze.
Market Wrap
06:20:54 PM EDT | 03/12/2012
Disjunctivitis
By Linda Piazza | Markets appear to be suffering from a case of disjunctivitis: disjunctions or divergences in normal market relationships. How will they resolve?
Market Wrap
09:52:03 PM EDT | 03/10/2012
Greece Defaults, Jobs Strong
By Jim Brown | Nonfarm Payrolls came in stronger than expected to boost the market but the Greek CDS news deflated those gains.
Market Wrap
07:15:30 PM EDT | 03/08/2012
Markets Calm Ahead Of Jobs Numbers
By Thomas Hughes | The markets were fairly calm today in front of tomorrows jobs report. A strong opening was met with lack luster trading and a late afternoon rally was short lived.
Market Wrap
08:11:21 PM EDT | 03/07/2012
Market Sending Out Distress Signals
By Keene Little | The stock market is starting to send some distress signals and today's bounce, on lower volume, is not the kind of help the bulls were hoping for. The rest of the week has some dangerous shoals to get through.
Market Wrap
08:22:30 PM EDT | 03/06/2012
Super Tuesday
By Jim Brown | This may be Super Tuesday for Republicans but it was not a super day in the markets.
Market Wrap
05:45:35 PM EDT | 03/05/2012
Will the Sun Come Out Tomorrow?
By Linda Piazza | Indices swooned but recovered many of their losses. Some are on the cusp of following the Russell 2000 down to their nearest downside targets.
Market Wrap
07:26:49 PM EDT | 03/03/2012
Runaway Bride
By Jim Brown | The Dow continues to flirt with 13,000 but can't seem to make a serious commitment to a long term relationship.
Market Wrap
06:22:14 PM EDT | 03/01/2012
Dow Flirts with 13,000 Again
By Thomas Hughes | Yesterday's barrage of economic data continued today with jobless claims,PCE and auto sales. The news, while viewed as positive, failed to spark a significant rally.
Market Wrap
08:22:05 PM EDT | 02/29/2012
Potential Reversal Day for End of Month
By Keene Little | The stock indexes held up reasonably well considering the potential reversal signals in the dollar and the metals but there are some hints that we could be at the start of a market reversal across the board.
Market Wrap
09:39:55 PM EDT | 02/28/2012
You Have Got to Be Kidding
By Jim Brown | This Dow 13,000 story is getting ridiculous. After six days of fighting that resistance a +5 point close is hardly convincing.
Market Wrap
05:38:37 PM EDT | 02/27/2012
Futures' Gloomy Forecast Doesn't Last Long
By Linda Piazza | This weekend's G20 meeting in Mexico cast a gloomy cloud over futures and early morning cash markets, but that gloom didn't last long. By the end of the day, was anything decided?
Market Wrap
08:09:30 PM EDT | 02/25/2012
Close But No Cigar
By Jim Brown | The Dow flirted with 13,000 for most of the day but ended about 18 points short of that psychological level.
Market Wrap
06:54:56 PM EDT | 02/23/2012
Decent Data, Decent Day
By Todd Shriber | U.S., German data points lift stocks.
Market Wrap
08:09:16 PM EDT | 02/22/2012
Market Doing Its Best To Hold On
By Keene Little | Following the Greek bailout news the stock market has been able to hold on (no real sell-the-news event) but it's questionable how much longer it can hold on.
Market Wrap
09:24:33 PM EDT | 02/21/2012
Sell the News
By Jim Brown | The second Greek bailout has been approved after weeks of anticipation. Traders now need a new headline to trade.
Market Wrap
11:37:03 PM EDT | 02/18/2012
Optimism Reigns
By Jim Brown | Hope over a possible resolution of the Greek debt crisis helped push the markets higher on Friday with shorts exiting rather than risk a monster gap higher on Tuesday.
Market Wrap
08:00:42 PM EDT | 02/16/2012
U.S. Data, Europe Speculation Lift Stocks
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:06:23 PM EDT | 02/15/2012
Apple's Big Move and A Review of the Stock
By Keene Little | Apple has been the driver of this rally and today's gap up and rally to a new high had a lot of excitement around it. But it tagged an important Fibonacci projection and sold off hard, creating a key reversal day. We'll look at a thorough review of the stock, and its meaning for the market tonight.
Market Wrap
09:15:41 PM EDT | 02/14/2012
Headline Valentine
By Jim Brown | The markets were headed for a decent loss until a headline hit at 3:30 to push major indexes back into the green.
Market Wrap
08:34:08 PM EDT | 02/13/2012
Greek Progress Spurs Stocks Higher
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
07:19:55 PM EDT | 02/11/2012
Greek Doubts Dump Stocks
By Jim Brown | EU finance ministers express doubts over the commitment by Greece to follow through on bailout agreements and traders took profits.
Market Wrap
09:20:42 PM EDT | 02/09/2012
Point By Agonizing Point
By Jim Brown | Signs of progress in Greece helped to push the indexes to new highs but those gains were very slim.
Market Wrap
08:03:01 PM EDT | 02/08/2012
Dip-Buying Pattern Continues
By Keene Little | Morning declines have been bought by the dipsters for days on end now and it keeps working. It's hard to argue with success. The problem for the market is how much buying power is being consumed just to keep the market from falling.
Market Wrap
08:33:26 PM EDT | 02/07/2012
Grecian Formula 16
By Jim Brown | Greece teased the market for the 16th straight day that a resolution might appear soon
Market Wrap
07:52:51 PM EDT | 02/06/2012
Greek Tragedy Still Not Over
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
06:44:48 PM EDT | 02/04/2012
Economic Surprise Creates New Highs
By Jim Brown | A blowout jobs number, blowout ISM Services and strong Factory Orders caught investors by surprise and those who were short had a very bad day.
Market Wrap
09:28:12 PM EDT | 02/02/2012
Calm Day, No Headlines
By Jim Brown | The major indexes traded in a narrow range ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payroll report with no headlines moving the market.
Market Wrap
06:59:49 PM EDT | 02/01/2012
Hope for A Greece Settlement Sparks Another Rally
By Keene Little | The third promise in as many weeks by Greece that they will have a debt restructuring agreement by the weekend was the spark for another rally in the European markets which started off the U.S. market with another gap up. The day finished with a doji candle -- another one and done kind of day.
Market Wrap
10:14:05 PM EDT | 01/31/2012
Best January Since 1997
By Jim Brown | January closed with a whimper today with the averages mixed but it was still a great month. Unfortunately that suggests February could be ugly.
Market Wrap
09:02:59 PM EDT | 01/30/2012
Bad Start, Lackluster Finish
By Todd Shriber | Europe looms large as Germany and Greece disagree...again.
Market Wrap
08:05:02 PM EDT | 01/28/2012
Calm Before the Storm
By Jim Brown | Another Friday with Greece hogging the headlines and Portugal waiting in the wings to take the spotlight as the next EU country to move into crisis mode
Market Wrap
09:21:58 PM EDT | 01/26/2012
Dow Touches the Sky
By Jim Brown | The Dow rallied at the open to 12,841 and above the 52-week high close at 12,810 but immediately lost traction and declined to close near the lows for the day
Market Wrap
08:39:38 PM EDT | 01/25/2012
Dip Buyers Continue to be Rewarded
By Keene Little | A common pattern this month, other than the gaps to the upside, is for morning dips to be bought. Today was the tenth successful day for the dipsters.
Market Wrap
09:29:33 PM EDT | 01/24/2012
Apple Pie
By Jim Brown | Apple's earnings report was as pleasing as a warm slice of mom's apple pie complete with ice cream.
Market Wrap
05:57:30 PM EDT | 01/23/2012
Not A Manic Monday
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
09:55:01 PM EDT | 01/21/2012
Thank You IBM
By Jim Brown | IBM's +8 point gain on Friday was responsible for a 60.56 point gain in the Dow. Microsoft and Intel contributed but to a much lesser degree.
Market Wrap
09:48:07 PM EDT | 01/19/2012
Six Month Highs
By Jim Brown | It appears investors have shifted to rick on mode as worries over Europe are easing and U.S. economic numbers continue to improve.
Market Wrap
07:32:41 PM EDT | 01/18/2012
More Hopium for A Bigger Bailout Plan
By Keene Little | The IMF's announcement that they are investigating options to more than double the size of their lending capacity had the market very hopeful that the bailouts will continue and that massive amounts of liquidity will make it into the stock market.
Market Wrap
09:31:19 PM EDT | 01/17/2012
China Surprise
By Jim Brown | China reported multiple economic numbers for Q4 that were better than expected and took trader's minds off of Europe.
Market Wrap
07:05:34 PM EDT | 01/14/2012
Nine European Downgrades
By Jim Brown | S&P downgraded nine European countries and the Dow only lost -48 points? Obviously the bad news was already discounted and the minimal reaction is bullish.
Market Wrap
09:41:04 PM EDT | 01/12/2012
Stealth Rally Continues
By Jim Brown | Weak economics offset positive news from Europe but the early morning dip was again bought and all markets closed with minor gains.
Market Wrap
08:00:46 PM EDT | 01/11/2012
Another No Gap, No Gain Kind of Day
By Keene Little | If it were not for gaps to the upside we would have no gains for the new year. The bears have not been able to do anything with this market, but in fact neither have the bulls. So we wait for one side or the other to show itself.
Market Wrap
10:33:38 PM EDT | 01/10/2012
Breakout or Climax Spike?
By Jim Brown | News from Europe and Asia combined to create a monster spike over S&P resistance at 1285 at the open. Is this a real breakout or just a climax spike?
Market Wrap
07:04:37 PM EDT | 01/09/2012
Ahead Of Earnings, Stocks Eke Out Gains
By Todd Shriber | Not impressive, but a win is a win.
Market Wrap
10:38:33 PM EDT | 01/07/2012
Market Rises in 2012
By Jim Brown | I wanted to use that headline while I still could. The Dow and S&P gains all came on Tuesday with persistent weakness eating away at that rally over the last three days.
Market Wrap
09:31:18 PM EDT | 01/05/2012
Europe Returns to Weaken Markets
By Jim Brown | Lackluster debt auctions in Europe put a cloud over global markets but U.S. equities erased early losses.
Market Wrap
08:15:28 PM EDT | 01/04/2012
Doji Day As Bulls Hold On
By Keene Little | The bulls can feel good that virtually none of yesterday's gains were given back. There's additional upside potential but it would sure be nice to get some volume behind it.
Market Wrap
07:57:54 PM EDT | 01/03/2012
New Year Starts with a Bang
By Keene Little | Friday afternoon's pullback ended up being a bear trap as the market got a slingshot out of the gate this morning with a big gap up to start the new year. Now the question is whether or not a bull trap is being set up.
Market Wrap
06:35:58 PM EDT | 12/31/2011
S&P Declines -0.003181% For 2011
By Jim Brown | The S&P had the lowest YTD change in 61 years with a close only -0.04 points below where it started 2011. That is the smallest change since 1950 when the S&P closed exactly even.
Market Wrap
08:21:45 PM EDT | 12/29/2011
More Market Noise
By Jim Brown | Today's rally began with a short squeeze and the velocity faded as the day progressed. Reporters blamed economics and Europe but in the end it was just noise in a thin market.
Market Wrap
08:19:21 PM EDT | 12/28/2011
Sudden Unexpected Move In Euro/Dollar Crushes Bull's Hope
By Keene Little | The Italian bond auction went well but the euro suddenly sold off and the U.S. dollar rallied, which caused a selloff in stocks and commodities. The reversals look important.
Market Wrap
06:19:36 PM EDT | 12/27/2011
Italian Apprehension
By Jim Brown | Mixed economics in the U.S., a major warning from Sears and worry over the Italian debt sale kept the markets from extending gains.
Market Wrap
01:52:41 PM EDT | 12/24/2011
Santa Melt Up
By Jim Brown | A lack of volume and nice timing on a buy program combined to push the Dow to 12,294 and the S&P exactly to resistance at 1265
Market Wrap
09:02:58 PM EDT | 12/22/2011
Economics Continue to Improve
By Jim Brown | Economic improvement is pushing the market higher on hopes the U.S. recovery is finally beginning to accelerate.
Market Wrap
08:14:34 PM EDT | 12/21/2011
Bulls Hold Onto Their Rally
By Keene Little | Following Tuesday's big rally the bulls win by simply not giving anything back (except techs). Santa didn't turn into a Grinch and now there's high hope for more presents from Santa.
Market Wrap
08:58:00 PM EDT | 12/20/2011
Thank Shorts for the Rally
By Jim Brown | A sudden turn of events in Spain and strong economics in the U.S. and Germany caused a major short squeeze and pushed the Dow back over 12,000.
Market Wrap
07:32:25 PM EDT | 12/19/2011
Europe, Financials Doom Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Same themes, just a different day.
Market Wrap
11:21:00 PM EDT | 12/17/2011
Expiration Passes Quietly
By Jim Brown | The quadruple expiration failed to cause any volatility and the markets traded flat ahead of the weekend event risk.
Market Wrap
09:48:27 PM EDT | 12/15/2011
Economics Overcome Europe
By Jim Brown | Good economic news in the U.S. overcame a steady stream of negative news from Europe to lift the markets slightly higher.
Market Wrap
08:08:49 PM EDT | 12/14/2011
Disappointment Everywhere
By Keene Little | Europe has been disappointing the markets with a failure to act (not that there's much they can do about over-indebtedness) and the Fed disappointed with a failure to act (no QE3). So the stock market has reacted with more selling. Calling all Santas.
Market Wrap
09:38:51 PM EDT | 12/13/2011
Fed Statement Disappoints
By Jim Brown | The Fed gave no hints of further quantitative easing and kept the warning of "significant downside risks to the economic outlook." Traders were not happy.
Market Wrap
06:49:50 PM EDT | 12/12/2011
Europe Giveth, Europe Taketh Away
By Todd Shriber | Warnings of potential downgrades from the ratings agencies knocked the market lower again. Intel did not help matters either.
Market Wrap
06:44:00 PM EDT | 12/10/2011
Another Plan to Make a Plan
By Jim Brown | There was no grand plan as a result of the EU summit but in true European fashion they were all smiles about their new plan to make another plan.
Market Wrap
09:03:16 PM EDT | 12/08/2011
Preview of Coming Attractions
By Jim Brown | The markets got a preview of what we can expect on Friday when headlines from Europe showed an increasingly fractured coalition and slim chance of a grand plan emerging on Friday.
Market Wrap
08:09:47 PM EDT | 12/07/2011
Markets Anxiously Waiting
By Keene Little | Friday's meeting between the EU leaders to come up with a real plan to develop a plan that will implement a plan has the various markets on hold waiting for what that plan will be. The market has been consolidating since Friday and looks like it will continue into this coming Friday.
Market Wrap
08:30:12 PM EDT | 12/06/2011
S&P vs Santa Claus
By Jim Brown | For two days now S&P has done its best to kill the Santa Claus rally but the buyers continue to bet on Santa.
Market Wrap
06:06:05 PM EDT | 12/05/2011
It's Europe's World...We Just Live In It
By Todd Shriber | Downgrade fears cut down Monday gains.
Market Wrap
11:19:57 PM EDT | 12/03/2011
Best Weekly Gain in Two Years
By Jim Brown | The S&P rebounded from the worst Thanksgiving week since 1932 to post a +7.4% gain this week. Extreme weekend event risk kept it from being even stronger.
Market Wrap
09:22:08 PM EDT | 12/01/2011
No Material Headlines
By Jim Brown | For a market that is addicted to headlines today was a disappointment. It would be tough to beat the headline flurry from Wednesday so today was a pause to reflect.
Market Wrap
08:09:52 PM EDT | 11/30/2011
Bear Fry
By Keene Little | When the central banks want to fry some bear they know exactly how to do it -- wait until a few days before the end of the month and then gap the market up each day, using the short covering to help the rally. This morning's pre-market announcement by the central banks was too much pain for shorts still hoping for a reversal back down.
Market Wrap
09:10:18 PM EDT | 11/29/2011
Mixed Gains But Resistance Held
By Jim Brown | The two day rally ended with a mixed close with the Nasdaq negative and the Dow and S&P right below resistance.
Market Wrap
07:14:29 PM EDT | 11/28/2011
Black Friday Bounce
By Todd Shriber | Following the worst Thanksgiving week since 1932, the S&P 500 surged nearly 3% today on as record Black Friday sales and good news from Europe.
Market Wrap
07:17:33 PM EDT | 11/26/2011
Worst Thanksgiving Week Since 1932
By Jim Brown | Last week was the worst Thanksgiving week percentage decline since 1932. That is quite a change from nearly six week highs the prior week.
Market Wrap
05:42:32 PM EDT | 11/23/2011
Global Concerns Depress Stock Market
By Keene Little | The global worries about the European debt issue and Mideast war drums have the stock market spooked. Traders preferred to get their money out of the market this week rather than worry about missing any upside potential.
Market Wrap
10:29:19 PM EDT | 11/22/2011
Can We Just Skip Wednesday?
By Jim Brown | Can we just skip trading on Wednesday and Friday and go straight to Monday?
Market Wrap
07:07:15 PM EDT | 11/21/2011
Merger Monday No Use For The Bulls
By Todd Shriber | Super Committee Fails, Stocks Fall
Market Wrap
08:48:11 PM EDT | 11/19/2011
The Waiting Game
By Jim Brown | The markets moved sideways on Friday on mediocre volume as we await the next saga from Europe and the results of the Super Committee next week.
Market Wrap
07:21:44 PM EDT | 11/17/2011
Europe Fears Send Stocks To One-Month Lows.
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
06:54:12 PM EDT | 11/16/2011
Europe: Worse Not Better
By Todd Shriber | ''Unnecessary'' default in the cards?
Market Wrap
09:40:31 PM EDT | 11/15/2011
Melt Up Fizzles
By Jim Brown | A +120 point Dow intraday gain fizzled at the close to only +17 but it was still a gain and the Nasdaq closed at a five day high.
Market Wrap
08:36:48 PM EDT | 11/14/2011
Positive Reaction to Italy's Austerity Plan Short Lived
By Keene Little | The good news over the weekend about Italy's new Prime Minister and their Senate's approval of strict austerity measures got a positive reaction in Sunday evening's futures. By Monday morning it was all gone.
Market Wrap
06:19:17 PM EDT | 11/12/2011
Mario to the Rescue?
By Jim Brown | Headlines again powered the market when Italy's Senate approved the reforms demanded by the European Union. The lower chamber of parliament approved the measure on Saturday.
Market Wrap
07:29:23 PM EDT | 11/10/2011
A Europe Rebound...Sort Of
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:11:44 PM EDT | 11/09/2011
Bull Trap Sprung
By Keene Little | The S&P 500 closed above its 200-dma on Tuesday, enticing traders to take their long positions home with them. Wednesday morning punished them for doing so, leaving a bull trap on Tuesday. Wednesday's reversal looks important.
Market Wrap
08:40:24 PM EDT | 11/08/2011
One PM Down, One to Go
By Jim Brown | Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has agreed to resign and now Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has also agreed to resign once the current austerity budget passes.
Market Wrap
06:50:24 PM EDT | 11/07/2011
The Italian Job
By Todd Shriber | European concerns abound, but stocks move higher.
Market Wrap
11:10:40 PM EDT | 11/05/2011
What Have You Done For Us Today
By Jim Brown | Investors seemed to be frustrated that nothing material came out of Europe and the G20 meeting on Friday. Without a market moving headline the markets fell into a funk while they waited the fall of the Greek government.
Market Wrap
09:05:55 PM EDT | 11/03/2011
Lord of Chaos
By Jim Brown | Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was called the lord of chaos by a major Greek newspaper but he may not be lord of anything in 48 hours.
Market Wrap
08:02:58 PM EDT | 11/02/2011
Bernanke Bounce
By Keene Little | The markets still listen intently to the Bernank, hoping for some more assurance (and drug money) that everything will be all right. The market got an oversold bounce today and now the question is whether or not there will be more.
Market Wrap
10:16:08 PM EDT | 11/01/2011
Sucker Punch
By Jim Brown | Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou waited until after the EU leaders announced their hard fought solution and then supplied a knockout punch when they were not looking.
Market Wrap
06:41:02 PM EDT | 10/31/2011
Europe Rears Its Ugly Head Again
By Todd Shriber | Markets get reminded sovereign debt fiasco is far from over.
Market Wrap
08:00:58 PM EDT | 10/29/2011
Thank You Merkozy
By Jim Brown | While there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the EU plan there is no doubt that Merkel and Sarkozy were responsible and U.S. traders should be thankful.
Market Wrap
10:02:38 PM EDT | 10/27/2011
Relief Squeeze
By Jim Brown | The markets exploded higher as Europe offered up another plan to solve its problems but like before it was long on promise and short on details.
Market Wrap
08:21:35 PM EDT | 10/26/2011
Europe's Up and Downs Are U.S.'s Up and Downs
By Keene Little | The on again, off again news out of Europe and whether there will be a an economic summit, an agreement, or even a plan is driving stock markets globally up and down and all around.
Market Wrap
09:37:05 PM EDT | 10/25/2011
Earnings Turn Ugly
By Jim Brown | Cancellation of the EU Finance Ministers meeting on Wednesday and a flurry of negative earnings soured market sentiment.
Market Wrap
06:36:27 PM EDT | 10/24/2011
Merger Monday, Earnings, Europe Ignite The Rally
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
10:48:26 PM EDT | 10/22/2011
Headline Rally
By Jim Brown | I believe there were more traders scared of holding short over the weekend than there were traders who wanted to be long. The result was yet another short squeeze.
Market Wrap
09:57:08 PM EDT | 10/20/2011
Bipolar Markets
By Jim Brown | Good earnings and economics are pushing the markets higher but problems in Europe continue to push the indexes lower
Market Wrap
08:03:33 PM EDT | 10/19/2011
Tough Resistance Holding
By Keene Little | The market has tried to push through tough resistance for the past six trading sessions but has not been successful yet. Now with signs of tiring, the bulls may need to rest first.
Market Wrap
07:40:45 PM EDT | 10/18/2011
Earnings Capture Market Spotlight
By Jim Brown | Companies reporting have not all been beating the estimates but overall the earnings have been better than expected and guidance is good.
Market Wrap
06:15:31 PM EDT | 10/17/2011
What Should Have Been
By Todd Shriber | Europe roils markets yet again.
Market Wrap
11:24:26 PM EDT | 10/15/2011
Best Rally In Two Years
By Jim Brown | The Dow completed its best two week rally since July 2009 and the Nasdaq broke well above prior resistance. Where did the bears go?
Market Wrap
08:56:36 PM EDT | 10/13/2011
Googlicious
By Jim Brown | Google's earnings beat after the close and resulting $40 after hours spike should kick the Nasdaq well over 2625 resistance at Friday's open.
Market Wrap
08:12:23 PM EDT | 10/12/2011
Hope for Europe Inspires Further Rally
By Keene Little | Traders have been buying (and shorts have been covering) with more news that Europe has solved its debt issues. Maybe. The DOW has rallied 1200 points in 6 trading days -- a little too much too fast again.
Market Wrap
09:29:55 PM EDT | 10/11/2011
Bulls Resisting
By Jim Brown | Despite a strongly overbought market the bulls are resisting profit taking and the bears can't overcome this bullish sentiment.
Market Wrap
08:04:34 PM EDT | 10/10/2011
Merkozy Saves The Day
By Todd Shriber | Europe bolsters riskier assets for a change.
Market Wrap
09:00:38 PM EDT | 10/08/2011
Only the Results Count
By Jim Brown | I have heard many times it does not matter how something happens, only the results count. For last week I believe the "why" matters more than the results.
Market Wrap
09:37:12 PM EDT | 10/06/2011
Are We Done Yet?
By Jim Brown | After a new bear market low on Tuesday followed by a rebound covering three days is the market about done going up?
Market Wrap
07:45:31 PM EDT | 10/05/2011
Bullish Follow Through
By Keene Little | This market has had a problem with the number 3 -- no move has lasted longer than 3 days. We're on day #2 for the rally so we'll see if the bulls can put a string of more than 3 days together.
Market Wrap
09:11:19 PM EDT | 10/04/2011
Bear Market Short Squeeze
By Jim Brown | The market officially dipped into bear market territory with the S&P down -21.2% intraday at 1,074 but a large buy program hit the market at 3:15 to force a major short squeeze and a +49 point rebound in the S&P for an outside reversal day.
Market Wrap
08:11:37 PM EDT | 10/03/2011
Ugly Start To Q4
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:35:42 PM EDT | 10/01/2011
September to Remember
By Jim Brown | The good news, September is over. The bad news Q3 was the worst quarter for the markets since the Great Recession. Bad Q3s are normally followed by strong Q4s.
Market Wrap
06:53:17 PM EDT | 09/29/2011
Economic Numbers, Europe Help For A Change
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:19:28 PM EDT | 09/28/2011
Hope Turns to Fear
By Keene Little | The rally in the stock market off last week's low was built on hope that the European debt crisis had a resolution. Fear since yesterday is that the resolution doesn't have key support to back it and that fear is showing up in selling.
Market Wrap
09:30:28 PM EDT | 09/27/2011
Tape Bomb
By Jim Brown | Improved expectations out of Europe helped power the markets with a major short squeeze but afternoon comments blew out support and the indexes closed well off their highs.
Market Wrap
07:28:25 PM EDT | 09/26/2011
Same Old Song, But Stocks Rise
By Todd Shriber | Good news from Europe, but we have heard this before.
Market Wrap
10:31:27 PM EDT | 09/24/2011
Eye of the Hurricane?
By Jim Brown | The markets were relatively calm on Friday but is this the calm after the storm or just the eye of the hurricane?
Market Wrap
09:28:37 PM EDT | 09/22/2011
Significant Market Risk
By Jim Brown | The Fed said there was significant risk in the economy and that translated to a significant risk for traders in the equity and commodity markets.
Market Wrap
08:24:42 PM EDT | 09/21/2011
Fed Gives the Market Some But Not All
By Keene Little | The market was pricing in the Operation Twist from the Fed but wanted more liquidity injections (intravenous drug injections). The first was provided but the drugs were held back and the market had a fit.
Market Wrap
09:47:44 PM EDT | 09/20/2011
Failure At Resistance
By Jim Brown | Bad news out of Greece hit markets already stalled at resistance and the result was a failure and a drop back into negative territory.
Market Wrap
07:49:50 PM EDT | 09/19/2011
Greece...Again
By Todd Shriber | Market remains jittery regarding Europe's next move.
Market Wrap
08:00:59 PM EDT | 09/17/2011
Whiplash Market
By Jim Brown | The first three weeks of September have produced four Dow moves of 700 points or more. The opening move was a drop of -7.5%, +5.8% rebound, -5.8% drop and now a +7% rally. Dizzy yet?
Market Wrap
09:50:44 PM EDT | 09/15/2011
Stretching Our Luck
By Jim Brown | The markets extended their gains to four consecutive days because the EU applied yet another Band-Aid on the Greek problem. Four positive days may be stretching our luck.
Market Wrap
07:32:46 PM EDT | 09/14/2011
Opex Wednesday Produces Strong Rally on Lighter Volume (again)
By Keene Little | The bears stepped aside and some did some short covering while opex-induced buying led to a nice rally. Too bad the volume was once again missing in the rally.
Market Wrap
09:54:51 PM EDT | 09/13/2011
No Bad News From Europe
By Jim Brown | Confusing comments from Europe today but at least nothing to crash the markets. Without a reason to sell the markets eased slightly higher.
Market Wrap
07:10:28 PM EDT | 09/12/2011
China Wants To Eat Italian...Maybe
By Todd Shriber | Rumor that China may buy Italian bonds sends stocks to positive close.
Market Wrap
10:45:27 PM EDT | 09/10/2011
Already A September To Remember
By Jim Brown | Only ten days into September and it is proving it could be one we will remember with the U.S. markets down 5 of the last 6 days.
Market Wrap
09:42:52 PM EDT | 09/08/2011
Uncle Ben Disappoints, Again
By Jim Brown | Ben Bernanke spoke again today on the state of the economy but his speech was a carbon copy of the Jackson Hole speech two weeks ago and still no promise any specific stimulus program.
Market Wrap
08:55:26 PM EDT | 09/07/2011
Stocks Rally on Relief from Europe
By Keene Little | Following the big gap down on Tuesday morning we've seen the stock market make a nice recovery and looks to have its eyes on closing Friday's gaps as well.
Market Wrap
09:47:45 PM EDT | 09/06/2011
Friday Drop Explained
By Jim Brown | The market drop today on major problem in Europe is exactly why Friday's market failed to rebound. Nobody wanted to go long over the weekend when faced with Europe risk.
Market Wrap
07:15:05 PM EDT | 09/03/2011
Worst September Since 1974
By Jim Brown | It may be early to start calling September the worst month but the first two days of trading have been the worst September start since 1974.
Market Wrap
08:55:46 PM EDT | 09/01/2011
Good News Is Bad News
By Jim Brown | Better than expected economic news soured market sentiment on worries it would keep the Fed on the sidelines.
Market Wrap
07:51:29 PM EDT | 08/31/2011
Fourth Day Up, Fourth Month Down
By Keene Little | After an end run, that is a run into the end of the month, there are signs of cracking in the foundation of the current bounce.
Market Wrap
09:43:42 PM EDT | 08/30/2011
Confidence Crumbles, Fed Divided
By Jim Brown | Consumer confidence fell to a two-year low and the Fed minutes of the August meeting showed a sharply divided Fed.
Market Wrap
08:46:19 PM EDT | 08/29/2011
Seriously? Economic Data Lifts Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Signs are there a double-dip recession may be avoided.
Market Wrap
07:49:34 PM EDT | 08/27/2011
Kicking The Can Into September
By Jim Brown | Bernanke disappointed traders to some extent by not announcing anything definite. However, he kicked the can down the road to the Sept 20th FOMC meeting by teasing investors saying the meeting had been extended to two days to fully explore existing policy options. Now we have a new date for the market to fret over.
Market Wrap
09:05:37 PM EDT | 08/25/2011
Bernanke Watch
By Jim Brown | The markets pulled back on worries over Europe and concerns about the Bernanke speech on Friday.
Market Wrap
07:36:18 PM EDT | 08/24/2011
A Look Into Friday and a Much Longer-Term View of the Stock Market
By Keene Little | The stock market became very oversold and the expectations/hope for something positive out of the Jackson Hole meeting on Friday is enough to create some buying pressure this week. How that fits into the larger picture will be explored.
Market Wrap
09:15:45 PM EDT | 08/23/2011
Market Earthquake
By Jim Brown | Shorts fled equities today on worries that Bernanke would say something positive on Friday. Now there is a serious risk of a sell the news event.
Market Wrap
08:04:03 PM EDT | 08/22/2011
Bears Ain't Afraid of No Bull
By Keene Little | Friday and Monday started off with a nice rally but instead of running with the ball the bulls simply handed it back to the bears. The selling momentum is waning but the bulls haven't stepped forward yet.
Market Wrap
08:17:12 PM EDT | 08/20/2011
Nasdaq New Low
By Jim Brown | The Nasdaq closed at a new 10-month low at 2341 after weakness in the chip sector and Hewlett Packard's earnings warning. Google lost $14 to close under $500.
Market Wrap
09:16:52 PM EDT | 08/18/2011
Double Ugly
By Jim Brown | The markets were hammered again but this time on two fronts. Worries over European banks started the decline overnight and U.S. economics was the secondary blow.
Market Wrap
06:53:05 PM EDT | 08/17/2011
Dell, Tech Drag Most Stocks Lower
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
09:42:17 PM EDT | 08/16/2011
Minor Profit Taking
By Jim Brown | The Dow declined -190 points intraday after the Merkel-Sarkozy post meeting press conference failed to show any meaningful agreement.
Market Wrap
08:15:51 PM EDT | 08/15/2011
Return Of Merger Monday Buoys Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Robust deal flow sends market soaring.
Market Wrap
07:10:48 PM EDT | 08/13/2011
Dow Rebounds +864 Points
By Jim Brown | The Dow rebounded +864 points from the 10,605 low on Tuesday and still ended the week with a -175 point loss. Volatility for the week set records with the Dow moving over 400 points on four consecutive days.
Market Wrap
09:20:31 PM EDT | 08/11/2011
Another Major Reversal
By Jim Brown | Lower jobless claims and a potential improvement in the European credit crisis combined to produce another short covering rally with more than a 550 point trading range.
Market Wrap
07:47:27 PM EDT | 08/10/2011
Whipsaw
By Keene Little | This market is causing some severe whiplash as the bulls and bears battle it out near the lows. It might be a sign of a bottoming process.
Market Wrap
09:38:33 PM EDT | 08/09/2011
Fed Soothes Market
By Jim Brown | The Fed lowered its estimate of economic growth and promised exceptionally low rates through mid 2013. That long-term promise replaced the extended period language and caused an immediate drop in treasury rates.
Market Wrap
08:09:30 PM EDT | 08/08/2011
Stock Market Crashing
By Keene Little | For those who thought the selling couldn't get much worse after last week's drubbing were in for a nasty surprise today. Closing at the low today raises the question whether that was capitulation or not.
Market Wrap
10:50:25 PM EDT | 08/06/2011
U.S. Loses AAA Rating
By Jim Brown | The final curtain in the debt debacle debate slammed down on the U.S. late Friday when S&P cut the U.S. rating for the first time in history from AAA to AA+.
Market Wrap
09:32:23 PM EDT | 08/04/2011
Liquidity Crash
By Jim Brown | Global economic fears and worries over a European bank meltdown forced a major market drop at the open and the lack of an early rebound forced billions of dollars in margin selling ahead of the close.
Market Wrap
07:52:10 PM EDT | 08/03/2011
Indexes Flirt with Negative Territory for the Year
By Keene Little | Tuesday's strong decline, right into the close, was a good setup for a reversal back to the upside today. Unfortunately the bulls did not get the memo. But before the day was over the bulls finally decided enough was enough.
Market Wrap
09:25:44 PM EDT | 08/02/2011
It's The Economy Stupid
By Jim Brown | Fears over a sharply declining U.S. economy, increasing worries over the European credit crisis and global growth combined to crush the markets and produce some serious technical failures.
Market Wrap
07:08:35 PM EDT | 08/01/2011
Debt Deal Awaits, Stocks Still Fall
By Todd Shriber | Stocks claw their way back from the day's lows, but still finish in the red.
Market Wrap
10:45:36 PM EDT | 07/30/2011
Debt Clock Ticking
By Jim Brown | The markets continued their losing ways as the debt debacle drones on. However, the economy is about to become the main headline once the debt deal is done.
Market Wrap
09:00:12 PM EDT | 07/28/2011
Sell The Close
By Jim Brown | For six consecutive days traders have sold the close on worries over the debt limit crisis. An 80-point intraday gain in the Dow was erased to see the Dow lose -62 points and close at a five week low.
Market Wrap
06:54:02 PM EDT | 07/27/2011
Debt Ceiling Trumps Earnings...Again
By Todd Shriber | Headline risk remains strong as Wall Street trembles in fear of Capitol Hill.
Market Wrap
08:38:55 PM EDT | 07/26/2011
Debt Rules
By Jim Brown | Earnings disappointments put a negative tone on the market early in the day but a late afternoon threat by the White House to veto the current Republican debt limit plan sent the markets to their lows for the day.
Market Wrap
07:04:25 PM EDT | 07/25/2011
We've Been Down This Road Before
By Todd Shriber | Debt talks make little progess pressuring stocks along the way.
Market Wrap
06:50:44 PM EDT | 07/23/2011
Deal Or No Deal?
By Jim Brown | Big cap tech stocks broke out to high on Friday thanks to Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon and Baidu. All of those companies contributed between 1-5 points to the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX).
Market Wrap
09:22:06 PM EDT | 07/21/2011
Buy the Rumor
By Jim Brown | Traders bought the rumors today as the Greek problem appeared to take a giant step forward towards a permanent resolution and the U.S. debt limit crisis also appeared to be nearing a breakthrough. Buy the rumor, sell the news?
Market Wrap
08:04:31 PM EDT | 07/20/2011
The Market Rested As It Digested Tuesday's Big Gain
By Keene Little | Things were looking rosy in the morning as AAPL's earnings had futures higher into the open. But the gaps were closed quickly and the market stagnated from there.
Market Wrap
08:52:44 PM EDT | 07/19/2011
Earnings Fuel Bounce, Obama Helps
By Jim Brown | Solid earnings from blue chip companies helped fuel the rally with IBM adding +80 Dow points thanks to the +10 point spike in the stock. The market also cheered positive comments by President Obama on a debt plan he could accept.
Market Wrap
08:36:51 PM EDT | 07/18/2011
Debt's Broken Record Plays On
By Todd Shriber | U.S. or Europe, the impact is still troublesome.
Market Wrap
07:57:38 PM EDT | 07/16/2011
Debt Limits Market
By Jim Brown | The breakdown in the debt limit talks helped to limit the market gains on Friday as we move even closer to a showdown ahead of the August 2nd default date.
Market Wrap
09:07:02 PM EDT | 07/14/2011
Bernanke Buzzkill
By Jim Brown | Ben Bernanke must have thought investors got the wrong impression from his Wednesday testimony and he went out of his way today to say there would be no QE3 unless conditions got a lot worse. The little positive sentiment left from Wednesday evaporated like a n ice cube on a Texas sidewalk.
Market Wrap
07:38:39 PM EDT | 07/13/2011
The Bernanke Bounce Fizzles
By Keene Little | Between the ECB and the Fed reassuring the markets that they will continue to buy up all the debt ever known to man, the markets enjoyed a flurry of short covering in the morning. By the close most of the rally had been given back.
Market Wrap
08:20:54 PM EDT | 07/12/2011
Another Domino Falls
By Jim Brown | Pushing the market lower was news that Moody's cut Ireland's debt to junk but providing an intraday bounce was news the Fed was considering QE3. Whatever happened to trading stocks on fundamentals?
Market Wrap
08:03:03 PM EDT | 07/11/2011
Not Safe To Tread In Europe's Waters
By Todd Shriber | Same old song plagues stocks. This time it is Italy and Spain.
Market Wrap
06:55:07 PM EDT | 07/09/2011
Jobs Ate Our Rally
By Jim Brown | The ADP upside surprise produced a significant short squeeze rally but the Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday was equally market moving only it was in the opposite direction.
Market Wrap
10:24:44 PM EDT | 07/07/2011
Nasdaq Eight In A Row
By Jim Brown | A better than expected jobs number from ADP caused yet another gap higher and the markets ended very close to new highs. The bulls are back with the Nasdaq posting an impressive string of eight consecutive gains.
Market Wrap
07:55:20 PM EDT | 07/06/2011
Stock Market Continues to Rest
By Keene Little | Following a very strong rally last week the market has basically rested for the past two days. This is bullish until proven otherwise.
Market Wrap
07:53:19 PM EDT | 07/05/2011
Is Portugal the New Greece?
By Jim Brown | News that S&P cut Portugal's debt four notches to junk with a negative outlook helped to squash the intraday rally but all in all this was a bullish day.
Market Wrap
06:31:35 PM EDT | 07/02/2011
Impressive Fireworks
By Jim Brown | For whatever the reason the market fireworks last week were impressive. It may not have had the smoke and flame of a Grucci or Zambelli fireworks show but the rocket ride higher was definitely an unexpected surprise.
Market Wrap
08:39:46 PM EDT | 06/30/2011
Right On Schedule
By Jim Brown | The end of quarter window dressing rally was right on schedule and helped by favorable votes in Greece, seriously oversold conditions, better economics and the need for balanced funds to sell bonds and buy stocks.
Market Wrap
08:03:48 PM EDT | 06/29/2011
Greece Vote Saves the Day/Week
By Keene Little | Expectations were for Greek lawmakers to pass the austerity vote so as to be eligible for another round of loans. Today's passage of the measure gave the market a little more breathing room while helping the euro and sinking the dollar.
Market Wrap
08:45:36 PM EDT | 06/28/2011
Buy The Rumor
By Jim Brown | Traders have been covering shorts for the last two days on expectations Greece will vote to pass the required austerity measures needed to obtain the next $17 billion in funds to hold off a default in July.
Market Wrap
07:25:29 PM EDT | 06/27/2011
Europe Fears Subside As Stocks Bounce
By Todd Shriber | Greece inches closer to critical austerity vote.
Market Wrap
07:54:01 PM EDT | 06/25/2011
Moody's Spoils the Party
By Jim Brown | The day after the Greek crisis appeared to take an important step towards a resolution Moody's put 16 Italian banks on credit watch for a downgrade based on contagion concerns from Greece.
Market Wrap
09:37:36 PM EDT | 06/23/2011
Games Politicians Play
By Jim Brown | The world saw a flurry of political moves on Thursday that may or may not mean anything weeks from now but for today they moved the markets strongly in both directions.
Market Wrap
04:39:45 PM EDT | 06/22/2011
The Rally Into FOMC Stalls
By Keene Little | Following a strong oversold bounce off last week's low the market stalled today while waiting for word from the Fed. There was nothing new or unexpected and the initial reaction was a pullback from the day's highs, leaving both sides guessing whether that's all the bounce we'll see.
Market Wrap
09:37:59 PM EDT | 06/21/2011
Great Expectations
By Jim Brown | Expectations about the vote of confidence for the reconstituted Greek government would pass helped provide a rebound in the equity markets. Without that successful vote Greece would lose its $12 billion progress payment and be forced to default on its debts.
Market Wrap
05:24:47 PM EDT | 06/20/2011
Finally A Greek Solution?
By Todd Shriber | Less bad news from Greece spurs to stocks to a three-day winning streak.
Market Wrap
08:48:46 PM EDT | 06/18/2011
Streak Broken By Half A Point
By Jim Brown | The Dow and S&P ended their losing streak at six weeks but the S&P only avoided a weekly loss by a half a point. This microscopic technical break lacked a significant amount of conviction and remains uninspiring.
Market Wrap
06:38:25 PM EDT | 06/16/2011
Two Days Of Gains, But Questions Remain
By Todd Shriber | Greece, economic reports did not stand in the Dow's way today.
Market Wrap
08:21:07 PM EDT | 06/15/2011
Greek Debt Crisis Kills the Bulls (Again)
By Keene Little | Worry that an agreement is not forthcoming to hold off a Greek default (and all the consequences of that) tanked the stock market again but the bond market rallied. And interestingly, the banking indexes held up better than the broader averages.
Market Wrap
09:40:47 PM EDT | 06/14/2011
China Squeeze
By Jim Brown | The extreme oversold conditions created a monster short squeeze when economics from China and the U.S. came in not as bad as expected. Are "less bad" results really a reason to rally?
Market Wrap
05:45:34 PM EDT | 06/13/2011
You Call These Gains?
By Todd Shriber | Lethargic action not enough to make investors forget six weeks of declines.
Market Wrap
07:21:10 PM EDT | 06/11/2011
Six Week Streak
By Jim Brown | The Dow lost -199 points for the week to stretch the current decline to six consecutive weeks. That is the longest losing streak since October 2002 when the Dow lost -15%.
Market Wrap
09:31:31 PM EDT | 06/09/2011
Short Squeezes Still Exist
By Jim Brown | The Dow rallied for a +133 point gain intraday thanks to the morning short squeeze that ended at 11:30 but there was no conviction and stocks sold off again at the close.
Market Wrap
07:51:24 PM EDT | 06/08/2011
Bears Do Not Want to Let the Bulls Up for Air
By Keene Little | The bears are implementing their own version of water-boarding and not letting the bulls up for air. The slowing economy and the Federal Reserve stepping away are emboldening the bears to keep up the torture.
Market Wrap
09:38:53 PM EDT | 06/07/2011
Bear Feast
By Jim Brown | The bulls ventured out of the barn this morning with a +88 point gain in the Dow by 2:PM but their time in the sun was short lived as the bears charged in at the close for a -19 point loss and -107 points off the high.
Market Wrap
07:44:52 PM EDT | 06/06/2011
Not Off To A Good Start
By Todd Shriber | After five bad weeks, another Monday decline.
Market Wrap
09:25:41 PM EDT | 06/04/2011
Economic Flu
By Jim Brown | The economic virus appears to be spreading with disappointing numbers on jobs and services pushing the Dow and S&P to the first five-week losing streak since July 2004.
Market Wrap
08:54:32 PM EDT | 06/02/2011
June Swoon?
By Jim Brown | The Dow and S&P hit two month lows on Thursday with the Dow down -100 at the lows after economic reports continued to paint a grim picture of the U.S. economy.
Market Wrap
08:02:12 PM EDT | 06/01/2011
DOW's 4-day Rally Gone
By Keene Little | The choppy rally since last week's low let go with a bang today and the DOW took away its 4-day in one day. It was the worst single-day drop since June 2010. It's another sign of the bear coming out of hibernation.
Market Wrap
07:03:23 PM EDT | 05/31/2011
Out With A Bang
By Todd Shriber | Greece bailout news sparkts market rally.
Market Wrap
08:31:15 PM EDT | 05/28/2011
Four In A Row
By Jim Brown | The major indexes completed their fourth consecutive week of losses with the exception of the Russell 2000 and NYSE Composite. The NYSE was higher thanks to influence from the energy sector.
Market Wrap
07:13:18 PM EDT | 05/26/2011
Weak Economics, Weak Market
By Jim Brown | Talk of QE3 is growing as economic reports continue to show a slowing economy. The market rebounded from its opening lows but volume evaporated along with those afternoon gains.
Market Wrap
07:30:40 PM EDT | 05/25/2011
Looking for Some Direction As Both Support and Resistance Holds
By Keene Little | The market has been weak this month and some important support levels have broken. But the bulls could still pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Market Wrap
09:17:49 PM EDT | 05/24/2011
Different Day, Same Result
By Jim Brown | Another day of dismal economics and news headlines from the European debt crisis and another day of declines in the equity markets. Investors may be growing numb to the news because the damage was minimal.
Market Wrap
06:25:51 PM EDT | 05/23/2011
Good Grief, Now Italy?
By Todd Shriber | Europe's sovereign debt woes continue to worsen.
Market Wrap
06:14:00 PM EDT | 05/21/2011
Third Week of Declines
By Jim Brown | The markets continued to decline for the third consecutive week as worries over economics, earnings and Europe continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
Market Wrap
09:50:54 PM EDT | 05/19/2011
Surprising Strength Despite Economic Uncertainty
By Jim Brown | Economically it was an ugly day with the Philly Fed Survey taking another massive hit for May but the markets recovered from the opening volatility and moved higher when logically they should have sold off.
Market Wrap
07:57:31 PM EDT | 05/18/2011
Bulls Take the Reins Back
By Keene Little | Yesterday saw a nice recovery off the low and the daily candlestick pattern now looks bullish after today's rally. The market is now the bull's to lose.
Market Wrap
09:07:54 PM EDT | 05/17/2011
Hewlett Packard Leads Techs Lower
By Jim Brown | Dow component Hewlett Packard was crushed for a 7% loss after weak earnings and guidance and pushed the Dow to a -170 point loss at the open.
Market Wrap
06:55:46 PM EDT | 05/16/2011
Europe Casts A Cloud Over The Market...Again
By Todd Shriber | Greek tragedy continues.
Market Wrap
07:44:03 PM EDT | 05/14/2011
Is Risk Off The New Trade?
By Jim Brown | Worries over Eurozone economics, rising U.S. debt levels, slowing economics, rising inflation and the end of QE2 appear to be changing the dynamics of the market.
Market Wrap
09:12:53 PM EDT | 05/12/2011
Nice Rebound But Still An Ugly Day
By Jim Brown | The Dow rebounded from a -93 point decline to close +66 points higher but there was still a failure of the trend. Giving up -120 on Wednesday and gaining +66 today is a losing proposition on a repetitive basis.
Market Wrap
06:22:08 PM EDT | 05/11/2011
Sea Of Red
By Todd Shriber | Stocks, commodities slammed as inflation concerns persist.
Market Wrap
09:36:33 PM EDT | 05/10/2011
Stealth Rally In Progress
By Jim Brown | Volume was very low but the results were outstanding. All the indexes finished higher but the strength of the gains was surprising.
Market Wrap
07:52:21 PM EDT | 05/09/2011
Dead Cat Bounce
By Keene Little | Last week's strong volume in the selloff was followed by today's light volume in a bounce, which points to the dead cat bounce variety.
Market Wrap
09:34:04 PM EDT | 05/07/2011
Rough Week For Commodity Traders
By Jim Brown | The equity markets may have seen some minor profit taking last week but anyone with commodity positions probably ended up at a bar on Friday drinking their troubles away.
Market Wrap
08:56:48 PM EDT | 05/05/2011
Once In A Decade Move
By Jim Brown | Earnings excitement disappeared as commodities imploded on worries over a double dip recession returned to the headlines.
Market Wrap
08:00:24 PM EDT | 05/04/2011
Uncertainty Enters the Market
By Keene Little | The stock market has been pricing in continued growth to support higher prices but this week has some questioning that hypothesis.
Market Wrap
09:23:43 PM EDT | 05/03/2011
Oil Greases the Slide
By Jim Brown | Earnings excitement began to wane after several companies provided disappointing results. With a monster rally over the prior two weeks it was time for the market to rest.
Market Wrap
07:09:22 PM EDT | 05/02/2011
No bin Laden Boost
By Todd Shriber | Death of notorious terrorist does nothing to help stocks.
Market Wrap
07:43:33 PM EDT | 04/30/2011
April Closes Strong
By Jim Brown | The Dow has gained more than 700 points since April 18th and the Nasdaq ended the month at a 10-year high. The Dow Transports and the Russell 2000 closed at historic highs. It was a banner week despite the pressure from the Nasdaq rebalance and FOMC meeting.
Market Wrap
08:38:37 PM EDT | 04/28/2011
Earnings Continue To Impress
By Jim Brown | The earnings cycle continued to provide big gains for those who beat and big losses for those who disappoint. Fortunately the winners outnumbered the sinners once again.
Market Wrap
08:07:31 PM EDT | 04/27/2011
Market Rallies Into FOMC/Bernanke Press Conference
By Keene Little | The stock market has been anticipating good things from the Fed and today's FOMC announcement and Bernanke's press conference did not disappoint, meaning no negative surprises.
Market Wrap
09:09:59 PM EDT | 04/26/2011
Thank You CAT, MMM, UTX
By Jim Brown | Blue chip earnings and guidance upgrades helped power the major indexes to new highs on the day before the all important FOMC announcement and Bernanke press conference.
Market Wrap
07:13:31 PM EDT | 04/25/2011
Stocks Dinged By Commodity Prices
By Todd Shriber | Gold, silver continue to soar as stocks wane ahead of Fed event.
Market Wrap
09:34:02 PM EDT | 04/23/2011
Apple Pushes Nasdaq To Two Month High
By Jim Brown | Earnings from companies like Apple, Travelers, Honeywell, Capital One and Schlumberger helped push markets higher despite terrible economics and a lackluster performance from GE.
Market Wrap
10:50:29 PM EDT | 04/21/2011
No Newsletter Thursday
By Jim Brown | With Friday a market holiday there will be no newsletter on Thursday night. Thursday's market events will be covered in the weekend newsletter.
Market Wrap
07:51:37 PM EDT | 04/20/2011
Strong Day for Techs as Nasdaq Has Best Day Since October
By Keene Little | Intel's earnings spiked futures up in the overnight session and bulls didn't let go into the day's trading session. They might not have added many points to the overnight rally in the futures but at least there wasn't any selling into the gap up this time.
Market Wrap
09:00:15 PM EDT | 04/19/2011
Pivotal Earnings Reports
By Jim Brown | The earnings cycle is in full swing with Goldman, IBM, Intel and many others reporting earnings with mixed results. Japan has provided a common thread but it did not slow Intel and IBM.
Market Wrap
06:44:40 PM EDT | 04/18/2011
AAA May Be Slipping Away
By Todd Shriber | Market frets over S&P's negative outlook on U.S. debt.
Market Wrap
07:50:34 PM EDT | 04/16/2011
Economics Overcomes Earnings
By Jim Brown | Better than expected economics overcame an earnings miss by Google and Bank America and potential weekend event risk to post a minor gain ahead of next week's earnings parade.
Market Wrap
09:22:30 PM EDT | 04/14/2011
Google Misses Estimates, Drops $30
By Jim Brown | After a weak day in the markets the futures took a serious hit in late trading after Google released earnings that missed estimates and the stock was knocked back to $546 on the news.
Market Wrap
08:12:47 PM EDT | 04/13/2011
Bulls Hold Support
By Keene Little | All eyes are on the 50-day moving averages that are holding but barely. What happens from here will be important.
Market Wrap
09:36:25 PM EDT | 04/12/2011
Commodity Prices Were Radioactive Today
By Jim Brown | Worries over Japan's nuclear escalation, a revenue shortage on Alcoa and a sharp downgrade on the energy sector by Goldman Sachs created some serious selling today.
Market Wrap
07:12:02 PM EDT | 04/11/2011
IMF Report, Oil Prices Plague Stocks
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
06:36:20 PM EDT | 04/09/2011
Event Risk Wins Again
By Jim Brown | Despite more bad news, the political theater playing out in Washington and weekend event risk the markets remained relatively stable with the Dow squeezing out a +3 point gain for the week.
Market Wrap
08:55:29 PM EDT | 04/07/2011
Jittery Markets Close Slightly Negative
By Jim Brown | After a 98-point Dow drop at the open on news of another earthquake in Japan the markets rebounded but it was a fight. Volume was light again and lacking conviction.
Market Wrap
07:42:09 PM EDT | 04/06/2011
Inching Higher
By Keene Little | The headlines are able to report each day the DOW is making new highs not seen since early June 2008. They may be small daily gains but the bulls are certainly happy they continue to be gains.
Market Wrap
09:26:41 PM EDT | 04/05/2011
Close But No Cigar
By Jim Brown | The S&P traded over key resistance most of the day but gave up ground at the close after the Fed minutes showed a divided FOMC and the possibility of rate hikes in 2011.
Market Wrap
06:58:53 PM EDT | 04/04/2011
Not A Manic Monday
By Todd Shriber | Deal-making fails to propel stocks to noteworthy gains.
Market Wrap
06:53:57 PM EDT | 04/02/2011
Market High On Jobs
By Jim Brown | Fear of the weekend may have knocked a few points off the indexes ahead of the close but Dow Industrials, Dow Transports and the Russell 2000 hit new highs intraday.
Market Wrap
06:59:55 PM EDT | 03/31/2011
Boring End To Q1
By Todd Shriber | Stocks slump, but S&P 500 still turns in best Q1 run in 13 years.
Market Wrap
07:40:29 PM EDT | 03/30/2011
T-1 and Counting to End of Month/Quarter
By Keene Little | After setting the bear trap Tuesday morning we've seen a strong rally into the end of the month/quarter (one more day), leaving traders guessing what happens after the end of the month.
Market Wrap
09:11:51 PM EDT | 03/29/2011
Teflon Market Ignores Bad Economic News
By Jim Brown | Bad news continues to have no impact on the market as the end of quarter window dressing caused a strong rebound out of the morning dip.
Market Wrap
07:45:25 PM EDT | 03/28/2011
Excuses Abound As Stocks Slide
By Todd Shriber | Japan, Middle East back in form to weigh on equities.
Market Wrap
07:19:12 PM EDT | 03/26/2011
Weekend Event Risk Tempers Gains
By Jim Brown | Geopolitical event risk weighed on the markets on Friday afternoon and the indexes closed off their highs but still posted the best weekly gain since October.
Market Wrap
08:49:35 PM EDT | 03/24/2011
Bad News Fails To Halt Rally
By Jim Brown | The bad news bulls are back in charge with bad news having little impact on traders and dip buying back in force with the indexes clearly over high profile resistance.
Market Wrap
07:05:54 PM EDT | 03/23/2011
Bad News Bulls Rally to the Rescue
By Keene Little | The housing reports are getting so bad that it must be the bottom. At least that's what hopeful bulls seemed to believe today as the market rallied on the news. Too bad the banks were MIA again.
Market Wrap
09:00:33 PM EDT | 03/22/2011
Taking the Day Off
By Jim Brown | The markets took a day off on Tuesday after three days of strong gains. The declines were minimal especially after the +460 point rebound from last week's lows.
Market Wrap
06:40:13 PM EDT | 03/21/2011
''Let's Make A Deal'' Lifts Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Global headline risk ignored as stocks rally for a third straight day.
Market Wrap
06:53:18 PM EDT | 03/19/2011
Dividend Friday
By Jim Brown | The Fed gave the green light to major banks to raise their dividends and the flood of announcements helped push the Dow into the green. Techs stocks were not so lucky with the NDX closing in the red.
Market Wrap
09:18:35 PM EDT | 03/17/2011
Green For Saint Patrick's Day
By Jim Brown | The markets celebrated St. Patrick's day by reversing a week long decline and posting some decent gains and ending in the green.
Market Wrap
08:03:14 PM EDT | 03/16/2011
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Give Up Year's Gains
By Keene Little | With a headline that says the market has now given up the gains for the year it's not going to have investors feeling bullish. The bigger question is whether or not the decline from February is just a pullback within the larger rally.
Market Wrap
09:32:55 PM EDT | 03/15/2011
Markets Nuked By Japan
By Jim Brown | The Dow was knocked for a -296 point loss at the open by the continued bad news from the damaged nuclear plant in Japan.
Market Wrap
07:01:31 PM EDT | 03/14/2011
New Headline Risk
By Todd Shriber | Japan Replaces Middle East as latest region to roil equities.
Market Wrap
05:06:42 PM EDT | 03/12/2011
Never A Dull Moment
By Jim Brown | The markets faced major earthquakes and tsunamis, unrest in the Middle East, falling consumer sentiment, plunging oil prices and the impending FOMC meeting but the bulls climbed the wall of worry to push the indexes back into the green.
Market Wrap
08:54:07 PM EDT | 03/10/2011
A Revolting Development
By Jim Brown | A potential revolt in Saudi Arabia and a shocking economic report out of China produced a buyer revolt in the U.S. equity markets.
Market Wrap
07:41:47 PM EDT | 03/09/2011
Stuck Here in the Middle with You
By Keene Little | The market has been consolidating for 1-1/2 weeks now. The longer it goes the more explosive the move out of it might be. But which direction?
Market Wrap
09:43:19 PM EDT | 03/08/2011
Whiplash Markets
By Jim Brown | We would not know how to act without a major short squeeze or major news event to power the markets to triple digit gains or losses. Volatility is extreme and there is no conviction on either side.
Market Wrap
06:17:50 PM EDT | 03/07/2011
Another Day At Oil's Office
By Todd Shriber | Libya, Oil Prices Punish Stocks Again
Market Wrap
06:41:50 PM EDT | 03/05/2011
Sell The News
By Jim Brown | Friday's payroll report was inline with estimates but well short of many whisper numbers and traders sold the news to capture profits and avoid the weekend event risk.
Market Wrap
09:39:16 PM EDT | 03/03/2011
Job Expectations Increase Bullish Sentiment
By Jim Brown | Improving hiring in multiple economic reports plus a calming of tensions surrounding Libya put the bulls into stampede mode on Thursday.
Market Wrap
07:42:51 PM EDT | 03/02/2011
A Day of Rest for the Weary
By Keene Little | The broader averages rested today which could be a bullish bottoming pattern or a bearish continuation pattern right on top of support. We should know before the end of the week how next week will look.
Market Wrap
09:49:57 PM EDT | 03/01/2011
Market Sticker Shock on $116 Oil
By Jim Brown | An escalation of Middle East tensions, a bogus rumor and a comment about high oil prices by Bernanke in congressional testimony was a toxic witches brew for today's market.
Market Wrap
06:29:15 PM EDT | 02/28/2011
A Buffett Bounce Tops Middle East Concerns
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
09:05:08 PM EDT | 02/26/2011
Bulls Breathing Easier
By Jim Brown | The Friday rebound was uplifting for the bulls but volume was light and there was no conviction. This was expected for a Friday with weekend geopolitical events a worry for buyers.
Market Wrap
09:46:23 PM EDT | 02/24/2011
Be Careful What You Wish For
By Jim Brown | Bulls had been wishing for a decent dip for several weeks in order to remove some of the froth in the market and provide a better buying opportunity. Their wish came true and now they don't know what to do.
Market Wrap
07:59:30 PM EDT | 02/23/2011
The Nod Goes to the Bears
By Keene Little | The market is giving us some very strong bearish signals but the bears don't have free reign yet. The market has to do a couple of things (bounce and then new low) before the bulls are in more serious trouble.
Market Wrap
09:43:01 PM EDT | 02/22/2011
Finally A Decent Dip!
By Jim Brown | The events in Libya and worries about contagion to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait gave the markets the excuse they needed for a well-deserved bout of profit taking. What happens overnight will be the key to market direction.
Market Wrap
08:26:45 PM EDT | 02/21/2011
Not Shaping Up to Be A Good Morning
By Jim Brown | The events in the Middle East are rocking the markets around the world and the U.S. futures are down -16 at 8:PM.
Market Wrap
07:28:35 PM EDT | 02/19/2011
Different Scenario, Same Result
By Jim Brown | Friday's market skipped the obligatory dip at the open and declined significantly in the afternoon on a large sell program but investors bought the dip again despite possible event risk over the three-day weekend.
Market Wrap
09:52:01 PM EDT | 02/17/2011
Frustration Mounts for Bears
By Jim Brown | Every day that passes with the market at new highs the frustration for the bears continues to mount. Another dip was bought and another level of resistance slipped quietly behind us.
Market Wrap
06:50:00 PM EDT | 02/16/2011
A Longer-Term View of Today's Market
By Keene Little | The stock market has been acting very strong, especially since last July. With all the bullish upside projections for the year I thought it would be a good idea to look at where we are in relation to where we've been.
Market Wrap
09:04:20 PM EDT | 02/15/2011
Market Pauses To Reload
By Jim Brown | The markets rested ahead of the FOMC minutes on Wednesday after weaker economic reports suggested the recovery was not yet self-sustaining.
Market Wrap
06:40:16 PM EDT | 02/14/2011
Monday Much Ado About Nothing
By Todd Shriber | Post-Mubarak enthusiasm wanes, but S&P 500 moves higher.
Market Wrap
06:04:48 PM EDT | 02/12/2011
Market Needs A New Excuse To Worry
By Jim Brown | The crisis in Egypt ended and the markets moved higher. With no crisis left the bears are going to need to find a new excuse to sell the market.
Market Wrap
09:26:08 PM EDT | 02/10/2011
Dow Snaps Eight-Day Winning Streak
By Jim Brown | The markets rebounded from a strong deficit to close mostly positive but although the Dow tried hard the -15% loss in Dow component Cisco was too much to overcome.
Market Wrap
08:02:07 PM EDT | 02/09/2011
Bulls Take A Break...Sort Of
By Todd Shriber | Dow winning streak up to eight straight days.
Market Wrap
08:39:46 PM EDT | 02/08/2011
Different Day, Same Result
By Jim Brown | A rate hike by China and demonstrations at the Suez Canal knocked the markets lower at the open but the dip was bought once again. The bears were dumbfounded again.
Market Wrap
07:15:58 PM EDT | 02/07/2011
DOW's Winning Streak Extends to Six Straight Sessions
By Keene Little | By holding onto the squeaker of a positive close last Wednesday the DOW now has the longest winning streak in three months. The bulls are doing well keeping the bears at bay and now we wonder where the next roadblock is located.
Market Wrap
08:12:58 PM EDT | 02/05/2011
Bad Payroll News But New Highs All Around
By Jim Brown | The Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, Wilshire 5000 and the Semiconductor Index all broke out to new highs despite the weaker than expected Non-Farm Payrolls.
Market Wrap
09:23:45 PM EDT | 02/03/2011
Another Dip Bought
By Jim Brown | Another dip on Egypt violence and mixed earnings news was bought once again. The shallow dip despite the various bits of bad news was a key bullish indicator.
Market Wrap
07:43:48 PM EDT | 02/02/2011
Market Rests After Wild 3-Day Swings
By Keene Little | The large price swings from Friday to Tuesday (at least relative to the small swings we've seen for months now) had traders feeling a bit whipped and both sides rested today.
Market Wrap
09:01:50 PM EDT | 02/01/2011
Bulls In Stampede Mode
By Jim Brown | Good economic news and a tame day in Egypt combined to cause a bullish stampede that powered the Dow and S&P to critical new highs.
Market Wrap
06:35:25 PM EDT | 01/31/2011
Stocks Give Egypt The Stiff Arm
By Todd Shriber | Rising oil prices and Egypt fears not enough to dampen Monday rally.
Market Wrap
08:11:31 PM EDT | 01/29/2011
Egypt and Earnings Push Markets Lower
By Jim Brown | The Dow snapped an eight-week winning streak and suffered its worst one-day loss in more than two months. The Nasdaq lost -2.5% for the biggest daily loss in five months.
Market Wrap
09:28:18 PM EDT | 01/27/2011
Amazon Hammered After Disappointing Earnings
By Jim Brown | Business may be good at Amazon but it was not good enough to prevent a -$16 drop in afterhours trading.
Market Wrap
07:42:22 PM EDT | 01/26/2011
Market Holds Up Through President's Speech and FOMC. Now What?
By Keene Little | One could be excused for believing there might have been an agenda to hold the market up through the President's State-of-the-Union speech and FOMC. Now all we have left is earnings, which have not impressed.
Market Wrap
09:44:28 PM EDT | 01/25/2011
String of Earnings Problems Sink Market
By Jim Brown | Weaker than expected earnings from some high profile companies knocked the indexes back to initial support early in the day but the bad news bulls showed up on schedule and bought the dip.
Market Wrap
07:29:55 PM EDT | 01/24/2011
Bulls Come Running Back
By Todd Shriber | Dow within earshot of 12,000.
Market Wrap
08:15:26 PM EDT | 01/22/2011
Finally A Buying Opportunity
By Jim Brown | It was a tale of two markets last week. The Dow posted a decent gain thanks to JPM, IBM and GE, while the rest of the markets headed sharply lower.
Market Wrap
08:25:55 PM EDT | 01/20/2011
It Could Have Been Worse
By Todd Shriber | China, earnings reports hamper stocks.
Market Wrap
07:15:16 PM EDT | 01/19/2011
Strong Signs of a Market Top
By Keene Little | Finding a top for the rally from July has been difficult to say the least but today's charts are showing the first signs of a reversal. As always, downside follow through is now key otherwise the bulls still hold the reins.
Market Wrap
09:47:17 PM EDT | 01/18/2011
Earnings Misses Fail To Deter Market
By Jim Brown | Earnings misses and news Steve Jobs is still sick failed to push the market lower. The bad news bulls are alive and well.
Market Wrap
04:34:12 PM EDT | 01/15/2011
Banks and Chips Push Market Higher
By Jim Brown | Intel did not get any love from investors on Friday but the rest of the chip sector rallied sharply. JPM blew past earnings to power the banking sector higher.
Market Wrap
10:02:24 PM EDT | 01/13/2011
Jobs, Dollars and Inflation
By Jim Brown | The bad news bulls had a full dose of economic challenges to over come today while they waited on earnings from Intel.
Market Wrap
07:24:15 PM EDT | 01/12/2011
Good Old Fashioned Earnings Run
By Keene Little | The techs were especially strong today and it appears traders are anticipating some good news from Intel on Thursday. The stocks market appears to be on an earnings run in anticipation of some good reports.
Market Wrap
09:17:34 PM EDT | 01/11/2011
Sell The News On Apple and Verizon
By Jim Brown | The long awaited iPhone announcement for the Verizon network was met with selling in both stocks. Verizon was hit hardest on pricing for the phone.
Market Wrap
07:09:07 PM EDT | 01/10/2011
Rally Falls Short Again
By Todd Shriber | Merger Monday loses out to European debt woes.
Market Wrap
00:23:29 AM EDT | 01/08/2011
Irrational Expectations
By Jim Brown | The ADP induced spike in expectations for the payroll report proved to be a downer for the market when the report failed to measure up.
Market Wrap
10:00:41 PM EDT | 01/06/2011
Waiting On Payrolls
By Jim Brown | The markets stagnated on Thursday as traders waited on the Non-Farm Payroll report on Friday.
Market Wrap
07:26:02 PM EDT | 01/05/2011
Stock and Commodity Markets Have Their Turn Signals On But Waiting for Traffic
By Keene Little | We're starting to see cracks in the market's foundations and a couple of indexes have kindly turned their turn signals on for us to watch for the turn. But the bulls are gallantly holding on for a little more.
Market Wrap
10:05:18 PM EDT | 01/04/2011
Cracks In the Foundation
By Jim Brown | The bullish short squeeze from Monday evaporated despite better than expected economic numbers and a sharp decline in small caps is a warning of potential weakness ahead.
Market Wrap
06:13:28 PM EDT | 01/03/2011
Happy 2011, Mr. Market
By Todd Shriber | Stocks extend rally into new year.
Market Wrap
07:23:19 PM EDT | 01/01/2011
Best December Since 1991 for S&P
By Jim Brown | The S&P may have rallied for +6% in December but it managed to post a gain of only .47 for the last week. All the December gains came in the first week.
Market Wrap
09:37:26 PM EDT | 12/30/2010
One More Day in 2010
By Jim Brown | The markets weakened as the weak progressed and sellers appeared at the close. This is not a good sign for next week's markets.
Market Wrap
07:55:58 PM EDT | 12/29/2010
T Minus Two and Counting To the End of the Year As the Market Holds Up
By Keene Little | The very slow volume continues and fund managers are just pleased to see the market holding up after a strong rally into end of year. There's been just enough buying to keep shooing the bears away and only two more days to hit the goal line. Will SPX 1250 hold?
Market Wrap
09:18:26 PM EDT | 12/28/2010
Low Volume, Low Conviction
By Jim Brown | The story has not changed with a slow melt up on very low volume and a serious lack of conviction.
Market Wrap
06:40:34 PM EDT | 12/27/2010
What China Rate Hike?
By Todd Shriber | China news does not spark the bears.
Market Wrap
08:59:54 PM EDT | 12/25/2010
Year-End Rally Loses Momentum
By Jim Brown | Traders appeared to be fatigued as the market slumped into the pre-Christmas close. Holiday parties, trays of food and probably an occasional alcoholic beverage took precedence over trading stocks.
Market Wrap
09:11:34 PM EDT | 12/23/2010
All Eyes On Santa
By Jim Brown | Everyone must have been looking north for an early glimpse of Santa's sleigh because nobody was watching the market.
Market Wrap
08:07:18 PM EDT | 12/22/2010
Market Prepares for Santa Claus Rally
By Keene Little | The real Santa Claus rally typically occurs during the last 5 trading days of the year, which kicks off on Thursday, December 23rd. The rally we've seen so far is in anticipation of a further rally so we've yet to know whether Santa has some goodies for the bulls or just a lump of coal.
Market Wrap
09:32:20 PM EDT | 12/21/2010
Ho, Ho, Ho!
By Jim Brown | Santa came early to the equity markets and he brought a stocking full of coal for the bears.
Market Wrap
07:35:05 PM EDT | 12/20/2010
SPX Rings the Bell
By Keene Little | It's been a struggle but SPX finally tacked on another 3.47 points to last Monday's high (which was the high for the week) and in so doing it rang the bell at 1250, with a high of 1250.20.
Market Wrap
06:47:13 PM EDT | 12/18/2010
Europe Debt Keeps Lid On Market
By Jim Brown | President Obama signed the tax compromise into law on Friday but European debt fears kept the bulls from celebrating.
Market Wrap
09:23:24 PM EDT | 12/16/2010
Market Winding Down Ahead of Holidays
By Jim Brown | With five trading days left before Christmas the market is already winding down and excitement over the potential year-end rally is fading.
Market Wrap
07:32:02 PM EDT | 12/15/2010
Dollar Rally, Spain Plague Stocks
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
09:19:27 PM EDT | 12/14/2010
No Change In Fed Policy
By Jim Brown | The Fed is unshaken by the rise in interest rates since QE2 began. Today they said inflation was too low and unemployment too high so the QE2 program would continue.
Market Wrap
06:44:57 PM EDT | 12/13/2010
What Could Have Been
By Todd Shriber | Late-day sell-off sends U.S. indexes to disappointing finishes.
Market Wrap
07:40:23 PM EDT | 12/11/2010
New High Friday
By Jim Brown | Friday was a new two-year high for the Nasdaq, S&P, Russell, Wilshire 5000, NYSE Composite and the Dow Transports. Only the Dow itself failed to keep pace.
Market Wrap
09:07:49 PM EDT | 12/09/2010
Good Day Except for the Dow
By Jim Brown | For the fifth consecutive day the Dow has been a drag on the markets. With daily point change of 20 points or less the Dow has only moved +8 points in five days.
Market Wrap
08:21:27 PM EDT | 12/08/2010
Rally Holds Up But the Market Is Giving Us Some Important Signals
By Keene Little | The market hasn't done anything wrong yet for the bulls to get worried but there are some early signs of potential trouble. Tighten up those stops while you enjoy the ride to the North Pole.
Market Wrap
10:16:47 PM EDT | 12/07/2010
All About Taxes
By Jim Brown | The market rallied on the news of the tax cut extension and then crashed back to earth when the Senate vowed to filibuster the deal.
Market Wrap
06:35:25 PM EDT | 12/06/2010
Monday Snoozer Despite QE3 Talk
By Todd Shriber | Stocks fall victim to tight ranges, but Nasdaq closes higher.
Market Wrap
11:34:05 PM EDT | 12/04/2010
Bulls Ignore Excuse To Sell
By Jim Brown | The bulls ignored the much weaker than expected payroll report and managed to push the markets back into the green before the close.
Market Wrap
10:19:37 AM EDT | 12/02/2010
Economic Data Lifts Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Europe forgotten about for a day as Dow roars to best two-day rally in four months.
Market Wrap
07:52:00 PM EDT | 12/01/2010
European Banks Saved Again and Good Economic News Leads To Strong Rally
By Keene Little | Nothing like a good bank bailout to get the bulls feeling feisty again. Throw in some stronger economic numbers and the bears were toast today.
Market Wrap
08:42:57 PM EDT | 11/30/2010
Forecast Cloudy, Storms Ahead
By Jim Brown | Despite the improving economics the market seems destined to pursue a downward trend. Repeated rebounds have been sold and the pattern of lower highs is becoming disturbing.
Market Wrap
07:20:01 PM EDT | 11/29/2010
Europe Pressures Stocks Again
By Todd Shriber | Ireland bailout has the market wondering who's next.
Market Wrap
05:01:35 PM EDT | 11/27/2010
Different Day, Different Country, Same Result
By Jim Brown | With Ireland now old news the world turned its attention to Portugal as EU finance ministers pressured the country to ask for a bailout in order to head off an even bigger contagion problem with Spain.
Market Wrap
10:14:50 PM EDT | 11/24/2010
Breakout Imminent?
By Jim Brown | It would not be a normal market without a gap open and our daily change of character. Did Wednesday serve notice of a breakout ahead?
Market Wrap
09:12:27 PM EDT | 11/23/2010
Fast Forward to Next Monday
By Jim Brown | It would sure be nice if we could just step away from the markets for the rest of the week and start over again on Monday with Korea, Ireland, Portugal and the Fed only a bad dream in our past
Market Wrap
07:40:02 PM EDT | 11/22/2010
The Bears Were Shooed Away
By Keene Little | The morning gap down and selloff was reversed by mid day as the bulls told the bears they were not welcome. A very methodical rally all afternoon brought the techs and small caps into positive territory while the blue chips struggled to make it to break even.
Market Wrap
06:42:08 PM EDT | 11/20/2010
Dow Scores In Final Minutes
By Jim Brown | After spending the entire day in negative territory the Dow managed a last minute run to end the day and the week in positive territory.
Market Wrap
09:08:58 PM EDT | 11/18/2010
Bears Beaten Badly
By Jim Brown | After a week of declines the bears had plenty of time to load up on their shorts. After today's short squeeze they are regretting that decision
Market Wrap
07:13:22 PM EDT | 11/17/2010
Consolidation Day
By Keene Little | Not surprisingly, after Tuesday's big down day, Wednesday was a snoozer as the market simply consolidated. Bears are not sure if they should press their luck to the downside and bulls are not sure if they still like the idea of buying the dip.
Market Wrap
09:24:06 PM EDT | 11/16/2010
What A Revolting Development
By Jim Brown | Traders looking for an excuse to take profits did not have to look far today. China, Ireland, Portugal, economics and currencies combined to knock the U.S. markets back to support.
Market Wrap
06:20:35 PM EDT | 11/15/2010
Merger Monday Returns
By Todd Shriber | Big deals do not equal a big day for stocks.
Market Wrap
07:19:27 PM EDT | 11/13/2010
China Worries Weigh On Market
By Jim Brown | Rampant inflation in China caused worries about a new round of tightening and crushed commodity prices and equities.
Market Wrap
07:31:38 PM EDT | 11/11/2010
CSCO Disappoints and the Rest of the Market Feels Its Pain
By Keene Little | Following Cisco Systems' (CSCO) disappointing earnings report after Wednesday's close, equity futures took a big hit. They were not able to recover before trading started Thursday morning and the market gapped down. But there was a valiant effort to save the market from further selling.
Market Wrap
06:58:33 PM EDT | 11/10/2010
Uneventful Wednesday
By Todd Shriber | Oil pops, Boeing, Cisco hammered.
Market Wrap
09:16:49 PM EDT | 11/09/2010
Pause To Reload
By Jim Brown | Two days of declines is not the end of the world. This was the first time on over a month that the S&P has ended with back-to-back losses.
Market Wrap
06:24:52 PM EDT | 11/08/2010
A Monday Breather
By Todd Shriber | Stocks step back from last week's rally.
Market Wrap
06:25:09 PM EDT | 11/06/2010
Sugar High
By Jim Brown | The markets posted some very strong gains last week as a result of the Fed passing out tons of candy for investors. This sugar high is bound to produce a headache once the QE2 news fades.
Market Wrap
08:07:02 PM EDT | 11/04/2010
What A Difference A Day Makes
By Keene Little | Thanks especially to another big gap up to start the day, the indexes jumped over resistance and made a very bullish statement today. The sell-the-news crowd was proven wrong in a big way. Now all we need is some follow through.
Market Wrap
09:01:21 PM EDT | 11/03/2010
$600 Billion In New Money
By Jim Brown | The Fed committed to create $600 billion in new money and use that money to buy government bonds and keep interest rates low for "an extended period."
Market Wrap
07:32:28 PM EDT | 11/02/2010
Market Continues to Chug Higher Into Elections/FOMC
By Keene Little | One could hardly call the market's move over the past week a rally but it's certainly not acting bearish either. Or is it? The choppy price action as the market works its way higher is typically an ending pattern. And the banks are still MIA.
Market Wrap
06:13:54 PM EDT | 11/01/2010
Pre-Election Nothing
By Todd Shriber | Economic data fails to lift stocks ahead of election, Fed meeting.
Market Wrap
05:16:21 PM EDT | 10/30/2010
Trick Or Treat
By Jim Brown | The markets struggled to hold their gains all week as we wait to see if the Fed is going to give us a treat or a trick.
Market Wrap
07:53:24 PM EDT | 10/28/2010
Depending On Perspective, The Market Is In a Holding Pattern Or An Ending Pattern
By Keene Little | One could look at the multiple doji days for the stock market and guess we're simply in a holding pattern in front of elections/FOMC QE announcement. Another interpretation, with the rising wedges that are forming, is that the market is in the final touches of an ending pattern.
Market Wrap
08:33:00 PM EDT | 10/27/2010
QE2 Too Small?
By James Brown | The Wall Street Journal sparked some concern this morning with their opinion that the Fed's next quantitative easing program might be a lot smaller than many people expect.
Market Wrap
09:16:39 PM EDT | 10/26/2010
Still No Change
By Jim Brown | The markets continue to wait on the Fed and a peaceful year-end for mutual funds on Friday. All the bets have been placed and we are waiting for the Fed to turn over their cards.
Market Wrap
08:18:10 PM EDT | 10/25/2010
Fed Easing Hopes Boost Stocks Again
By Todd Shriber | G-20 meeting keeps dollar low, stocks benefit.
Market Wrap
06:48:05 PM EDT | 10/23/2010
Holding Pattern
By Jim Brown | One third of the earnings cycle is behind us and the markets are dropping into a holding pattern with only a week to go before the FOMC meeting and the elections.
Market Wrap
07:58:32 PM EDT | 10/21/2010
The Market Is Struggling but It's Still Holding On
By Keene Little | It's a slow sprint to the finish line which appears to be the end of the month/fiscal year/election as the money managers attempt to hold the market up. Neither side is making much headway but the bulls continue to get the nod.
Market Wrap
09:00:10 PM EDT | 10/20/2010
Whipsaw Wednesday
By James Brown | Stocks rallied back strong after Tuesday's sharp declines. The dollar snapped a three-day winning streak against the euro and hit a new 15-year low against the yen.
Market Wrap
09:15:35 PM EDT | 10/19/2010
Happy Anniversary
By Jim Brown | October 19th is the 23rd anniversary of the 1987 market crash where the Dow lost -508 points for a -23% drop in a single day.
Market Wrap
07:43:45 PM EDT | 10/18/2010
Fed Plans Continue To Help Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Apple, IBM disappoint after the close.
Market Wrap
05:56:51 PM EDT | 10/16/2010
Don't Fight the Fed
By Jim Brown | All of my investing life the only axiom that always proved to be true was don't fight the Fed. They have an unlimited supply of money and investors have limits.
Market Wrap
07:54:31 PM EDT | 10/14/2010
Another Bullish Opex Week
By Keene Little | Opex weeks tend to have a bullish bias and this one lived up to that. We could see the market head a little higher as funds continue to support it and chase performance in the hopes of closing out their fiscal year on a more positive note.
Market Wrap
08:57:03 PM EDT | 10/13/2010
Another Day, Another Rally
By James Brown | Stocks extend their gains following positive earnings results from Intel, J.P. Morgan Chase, and CSX. Meanwhile dollar weakness continues to fuel the rally in commodities.
Market Wrap
09:42:16 PM EDT | 10/12/2010
QE2 Ready To Leave Port
By Jim Brown | The FOMC minutes showed most Fed members were ready to pack their bags and head out on a new quantitative easing voyage.
Market Wrap
07:10:42 PM EDT | 10/11/2010
Calm Before The Storm?
By Todd Shriber | Slow going as investors await earnings reports.
Market Wrap
05:46:08 PM EDT | 10/09/2010
Lost Decade
By Jim Brown | The Dow struggled but managed to close over 11,000 on Friday. The first time the Dow closed at this level was May 3rd 1999.
Market Wrap
07:38:18 PM EDT | 10/07/2010
Market On Hold In Front of Employment Data
By Keene Little | The stock market gapped up to start the day, gave it up and started down and then rallied back up in the afternoon, leaving both sides guessing for Friday, with indexes pressed up against potentially important resistance levels.
Market Wrap
08:24:32 PM EDT | 10/06/2010
ADP Employment Report Disappoints
By James Brown | Economists were expecting +18K private jobs but ADP reported -39K jobs. This doesn't bode well for Friday's nonfarm payroll report.
Market Wrap
09:29:51 PM EDT | 10/05/2010
See Your QE2 and Raise You an ETF
By Jim Brown | Japan matched the U.S. quantitive easing on bonds and went two steps further to add ETFs and REITs.
Market Wrap
06:56:07 PM EDT | 10/04/2010
Dow Downgrades Lead To Gloomy Monday
By Todd Shriber | Economic data remains lukewarm.
Market Wrap
07:35:14 PM EDT | 10/02/2010
Best in Seventy Years
By Jim Brown | Despite the lackluster week for the markets it was still the best performance for September in seventy years.
Market Wrap
07:04:26 PM EDT | 09/30/2010
Stellar September Ends With A Whimper
By Todd Shriber | Good economic data fails to boost stocks.
Market Wrap
08:47:49 PM EDT | 09/29/2010
Stocks Drift Toward Q3 End
By James Brown | The third quarter is about to end and stocks are hovering near their highs but seem unable to push past the next level of resistance.
Market Wrap
09:00:18 PM EDT | 09/28/2010
Running Out the Clock
By Jim Brown | The markets continued moving sideways as fund managers kept the indexes pinned at four-month highs with quarter end window dressing.
Market Wrap
06:34:19 PM EDT | 09/27/2010
Merger Monday Not Enough
By Todd Shriber | Stocks decline on another day of robust M&A activity.
Market Wrap
06:47:33 PM EDT | 09/25/2010
Bad Day for Bears
By Jim Brown | News events and gains in overseas markets produced a bad day for the bears with a monster short squeeze and the biggest gain in September.
Market Wrap
07:47:54 PM EDT | 09/23/2010
Market Is Doing Its Best to Hold On
By Keene Little | The post-FOMC reaction has the bears looking stronger. They haven't done much yet but the signs are there that reversals in most of the markets may be upon us.
Market Wrap
08:41:40 PM EDT | 09/22/2010
Dollar Drops, Gold Gleams, Stocks Stall
By James Brown | Stocks trended lower a day after the Fed's less than inspiring comments on Tuesday. The dollar dips to a new multi-month low and gold hits another new all-time high.
Market Wrap
09:04:31 PM EDT | 09/21/2010
Pace of Recovery Slowed
By Jim Brown | The Fed really played it safe with their statement in saying the pace of the recovery has slowed. That is like saying snails crawl slowly. No real news there.
Market Wrap
06:39:43 PM EDT | 09/20/2010
Breakout Monday
By Todd Shriber | S&P 500 breaks out of trading range.
Market Wrap
04:44:00 PM EDT | 09/18/2010
Living A Charmed Life
By Jim Brown | The daily gains have not been spectacular but so far September has far exceeded trader expectations. The problem with fairy tales is that they always end.
Market Wrap
08:48:05 PM EDT | 09/16/2010
FedEx Warns, Economic Data Mixed
By James Brown | The FedEx earnings news was a disappointment. Economic numbers out today were a mix of bullish and bearish reports. Tomorrow will be influenced by afterhours earnings.
Market Wrap
07:31:12 PM EDT | 09/15/2010
The Bulls Keep Battling the Bears Back
By Keene Little | The day started off in the hole and some worrisome economic numbers, which could be interpreted as "less bad", had the bulls climbing their favorite wall of worry, once again thwarting the bears.
Market Wrap
08:39:27 PM EDT | 09/14/2010
Dollar Drops, Gold Soars
By Jim Brown | The dollar plunged more than a full percent on Tuesday while gold soared +27 to a record high at $1,272.
Market Wrap
07:55:08 PM EDT | 09/13/2010
Stocks Continue To Defy September History
By Todd Shriber | Basel III, China data help extend September rally.
Market Wrap
06:46:47 PM EDT | 09/11/2010
September To Remember
By Jim Brown | Since the end of August the Dow has risen +460 points and appears poised to move higher in stark contrast to September's reputation as a bearish month.
Market Wrap
07:17:09 PM EDT | 09/09/2010
Topping Signals But Bulls Hold On
By Keene Little | It seems many have run back over to the bullish side of the boat while the market starts throwing off some topping signals. Throw in a little opex into the mix and we've got the makings of some volatility and possible upset.
Market Wrap
08:51:22 PM EDT | 09/08/2010
Widespread Signs of Deceleration
By Jim Brown | The highlight statement of the Fed Beige Book was "Continued growth, but with widespread signs of deceleration."
Market Wrap
10:46:32 PM EDT | 09/07/2010
Labor Day Hangover
By James Brown | Concerns over European banks and their toxic assets put market bulls on the defensive. Stocks witnessed a widespread decline following last week's impressive rally.
Market Wrap
05:44:55 PM EDT | 09/04/2010
Bipolar Market
By Jim Brown | Better than expected economic news turned the bears into bulls and despite an ugly start to the week the sprint to the finish was strong.
Market Wrap
06:13:51 PM EDT | 09/02/2010
Bulls Notch Another Win
By John Gray | The Markets bravely hung onto its gains from yesterday's massive rally, and actually added a few more notches in the bulls' column.
Market Wrap
08:06:31 PM EDT | 09/01/2010
Stocks Surge on ISM and China PMI News
By James Brown | After the worst August in nine years traders were in a rush to cover shorts after some better than expected manufacturing data.
Market Wrap
09:59:24 PM EDT | 08/31/2010
Battle To A Draw
By Jim Brown | The bulls and bears battled all day and the best they could come up with was a draw and support at 10,000 held.
Market Wrap
07:02:25 PM EDT | 08/30/2010
Back To Reality
By Todd Shriber | Friday's gains evaporate as more M&A news cannot save the day.
Market Wrap
06:51:27 PM EDT | 08/28/2010
Intel Warns, Market Rallies
By Jim Brown | Intel warned on sales for Q3 and Bernanke failed to name any material change in policy but the market rallied contrary to analyst expectations.
Market Wrap
08:03:25 PM EDT | 08/26/2010
Bad News, Bad Market Theme Continues
By Todd Shriber | Less Bad Jobless Claims Not Good Enough.
Market Wrap
08:55:32 PM EDT | 08/25/2010
New Home Sales Worst On Record
By James Brown | The pace of new home sales and the durable goods orders were a big disappointment this morning. Yet the market was oversold and traders bought the morning dip at support.
Market Wrap
09:01:45 PM EDT | 08/24/2010
Existing Home Sales Fall -27%
By Jim Brown | That is not the kind of headline the stock market wants to see and the knee jerk reaction was a drop below Dow 10,000.
Market Wrap
07:20:40 PM EDT | 08/23/2010
Bulls Have One More Chance To Rescue the Market
By Keene Little | The bulls got a good start to Monday trading but could not hold the early gain. The selloff into the close looks ominous, leaving the bulls one more chance to rescue the market before the bears attack.
Market Wrap
07:12:44 PM EDT | 08/22/2010
Big Swings, Minor Loss
By Jim Brown | Option expiration week produced a 333-point range in the Dow but only an 89-point loss for the week. However, Friday was the lowest close for the week.
Market Wrap
07:45:58 PM EDT | 08/19/2010
Bulls Losing Their Grip as Economy Slips
By Keene Little | This morning's economic reports added a couple of nails to the rally coffin as more traders begin to realize the hope-filled rally from March 2009 is losing its reason to rally.
Market Wrap
08:22:40 PM EDT | 08/18/2010
S&P 500 Tests 1100 Again
By James Brown | The oversold bounce in the S&P 500 index has stalled out twice at resistance near the 1100 level this week.
Market Wrap
09:01:03 PM EDT | 08/17/2010
Surprise Data Boosts Stocks
By Jim Brown | Earnings and economics combined to create a serious short squeeze at the open but sellers came back at the close.
Market Wrap
08:08:14 PM EDT | 08/16/2010
Slow Going On Monday
By Todd Shriber | Small gains made on second-lowest volume day of 2010.
Market Wrap
04:48:01 PM EDT | 08/14/2010
SmackDown At the Federal Reserve
By Jim Brown | Kansas Fed President Hoenig is no stranger to dissent but he blasted "Bernanke and his allies" on Friday for keeping rates low for an extended period.
Market Wrap
08:26:57 PM EDT | 08/12/2010
Sea Of Red
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:56:45 PM EDT | 08/11/2010
Worldwide Sell-Off
By James Brown | Major market indices around the world turned lower as investors reacted to the FOMC meeting and bearish economic data in the U.S., Japan, and China.
Market Wrap
07:46:23 PM EDT | 08/10/2010
Fed Buys Treasuries
By Jim Brown | The FOMC decision today kept rates at the same level but they announced a revised form of monetary stimulus.
Market Wrap
06:46:12 PM EDT | 08/09/2010
Setting Up for Turnaround Tuesday
By Keene Little | Between Friday afternoon's rally and a little extra push on Monday, we're at the top of the past week's trading range. Another push higher on Tuesday could set the market up for a sell-the-news reaction to the FOMC announcement on a turnaround Tuesday.
Market Wrap
03:41:35 PM EDT | 08/07/2010
Jobs Take An Unexpected Dip
By Jim Brown | A larger than expected loss of jobs in July and a sharp downward revision for June sent the Dow down for a triple digit loss early Friday. Short covering at the close erased that loss.
Market Wrap
07:58:20 PM EDT | 08/05/2010
The Longest Drum Roll
By Keene Little | The market has been hold since the initial gap up on Monday and has literally been frozen in its tracks. The longest drum roll will lead to the long anticipated nonfarm payroll report Friday morning. Then the fun begins.
Market Wrap
08:16:53 PM EDT | 08/04/2010
Better Than Expected
By James Brown | The ISM Services number and ADP employment figures came in better than expected and painted a brighter picture of employment in the U.S., raising hopes for Friday's jobs report.
Market Wrap
08:29:18 PM EDT | 08/03/2010
Bullish Pause
By Jim Brown | The minor profit taking today was bullish because there was a real chance we could have given back all of Monday's short squeeze gains.
Market Wrap
08:21:11 PM EDT | 08/02/2010
August Starts With A Bang
By Todd Shriber | Europe finally lends a helping hand.
Market Wrap
05:37:08 PM EDT | 07/31/2010
July Closes With A Whimper
By Jim Brown | The major indexes closed mixed for the day and flat for the week as July ends with the biggest monthly gain in a year.
Market Wrap
07:21:00 PM EDT | 07/29/2010
Working Hard to Hold the Market Up Into Month End
By Keene Little | There are some big players fighting it out this week, with some selling into rallies while others are trying to protect positions into the end of the month. It's the selling into rallies that is providing a warning.
Market Wrap
08:49:07 PM EDT | 07/28/2010
Durable Goods Disappoints. Beige Book is Lukewarm
By James Brown | The earnings parade continues to march by but investors are no longer impressed by better than expected results. The economic data out this morning reinforces concerns over our slowing economy.
Market Wrap
07:16:25 PM EDT | 07/27/2010
Economics Trump Earnings
By Jim Brown | Positive earnings from companies like Dupont failed to boost the market after economic reports tick lower.
Market Wrap
10:21:00 PM EDT | 07/26/2010
Monday Belongs To The Bulls
By Todd Shriber | FedEx, homes sales jumpstart stocks.
Market Wrap
05:24:06 PM EDT | 07/24/2010
Europe Provides Positive Influence
By Jim Brown | The better than expected European bank stress test results released on Friday setup the market for a flurry of short covering into the close.
Market Wrap
07:55:29 PM EDT | 07/22/2010
A 5-ticket Ride
By Keene Little | For those who have attended carnivals you know that the best rides cost 5 tickets. You might have guessed by now that we're all getting a 5-ticket ride courtesy of Ms. Market. How are you enjoying your ride? Hopefully you took your motion sickness medicine before strapping into your trading chair.
Market Wrap
08:55:38 PM EDT | 07/21/2010
Unusually Uncertain
By James Brown | The pre-market earnings news helped buoy stocks at the open but enthusiasm quickly faded. Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress this afternoon pushed the market toward its intraday lows.
Market Wrap
08:37:58 PM EDT | 07/20/2010
Serious Head Fake
By Jim Brown | The morning dip to Dow 10,000, a -148 point drop was deep enough to scare weak holders out and provide a buying opportunity for earnings bulls.
Market Wrap
08:16:47 PM EDT | 07/19/2010
Optimism Renewed...At Least For A Day
By Todd Shriber | Financials continue to languish, but energy names move higher.
Market Wrap
06:18:37 PM EDT | 07/17/2010
Earnings Giveth, Sentiment Taketh Away
By Jim Brown | A bad run of economic numbers punctuated by the eighth largest drop in history in sentiment knocked the Dow for a -260 point loss.
Market Wrap
09:12:04 PM EDT | 07/15/2010
Late Day Turnaround
By James Brown | Markets were disappointed with the latest economic data and JPM's earnings report but positive news from BP and suspicion that GS would settle with the SEC fueled an intraday bounce.
Market Wrap
07:31:12 PM EDT | 07/14/2010
Weak Follow Through to INTC's Earnings
By Keene Little | The same story seems to play out each time Intel announces earnings--good earnings, spike in the futures after hours, futures may or may not hold into the following morning and then a sell-the-news reaction. That pretty much sums up today's price action although the market held on.
Market Wrap
09:06:49 PM EDT | 07/13/2010
Streak Swap
By Jim Brown | After seven days of declines the markets have reversed that losing streak with six days of gains totaling about 8% on the Dow.
Market Wrap
08:25:46 PM EDT | 07/12/2010
Small Gains Before Earnings Season
By Todd Shriber | Alcoa, CSX deliver strong numbers after the close.
Market Wrap
08:11:42 PM EDT | 07/10/2010
Oversold to Overextended in Four Days
By Jim Brown | The markets have seen a marked change in sentiment over the last week as we head into the start of the Q2 earnings cycle.
Market Wrap
08:40:05 PM EDT | 07/08/2010
Stocks Extend Their Gains
By James Brown | The U.S. market is now up three days in a row. The S&P 500 has bounced +4.7% from its recent lows. Positive comments out of the IMF and better than expected weekly jobless numbers help fuel the move higher.
Market Wrap
07:54:57 PM EDT | 07/07/2010
Banks Lead the Way Higher
By Keene Little | Thanks to some positive banking news out of Europe and some positive-spin news on bank earnings in the U.S., we got a nice relief rally that took the market right up to its highs into the close. Now we'll get to see if there will be some follow through on Thursday.
Market Wrap
08:35:42 PM EDT | 07/06/2010
Jinx Broken?
By Jim Brown | The Dow erased a +170 point gain to traded in negative territory but eventually closed positive to end the string of losses at seven days.
Market Wrap
08:10:37 PM EDT | 07/03/2010
Seven Down Days
By Jim Brown | The Dow has now lost ground for the last seven trading days and the S&P the last five days. This is the worst consecutive loosing streak in a year.
Market Wrap
08:14:31 PM EDT | 07/01/2010
Oversold Heading Into an Important Economic Number
By Keene Little | The market is clearly short-term oversold and in need of a relief rally at least. Friday morning we get the important jobs number and we'll see if the market becomes more oversold or gets some relief.
Market Wrap
08:56:59 PM EDT | 06/30/2010
Look Out Below!
By James Brown | A disappointing ADP jobs number and news that Spain's credit rating was under review for a possible downgrade helped push stocks under key support levels.
Market Wrap
09:01:58 PM EDT | 06/29/2010
Europe Returns As A Problem
By Jim Brown | Global economic health issues returned to the forefront once again and knocked world markets for a substantial loss.
Market Wrap
07:44:08 PM EDT | 06/28/2010
Stocks Continue To Lack Conviction
By Todd Shriber | Energy, materials names drag market lower.
Market Wrap
06:56:02 PM EDT | 06/26/2010
Time to Fish or Play Golf
By Jim Brown | Monday's open was the high of the week and it was all down hill from there. Economic uncertainty was the motivating factor.
Market Wrap
08:24:25 PM EDT | 06/24/2010
Market Has Pulled Back to an Important Point
By Keene Little | The correction to the April-May decline could be over but the bears need to be very careful right here.
Market Wrap
08:32:27 PM EDT | 06/23/2010
New Home Sales Plunge to Worst on Record
By James Brown | Stocks post their third loss in a row thanks to a dismal pace of new home sales. Meanwhile the FOMC kept rates unchanged and offered a slightly less encouraging outlook on the recovery.
Market Wrap
08:43:36 PM EDT | 06/22/2010
Fasten Your Seatbelts
By Jim Brown | Worries over a global double dip recession roared back into the picture on Tuesday and volatility quickly returned.
Market Wrap
09:12:40 PM EDT | 06/21/2010
Yuan News Not Enough To Boost Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Another Monday heartbreaker for stocks.
Market Wrap
09:52:18 PM EDT | 06/19/2010
Friday Action Is Lackluster As Stocks Inch Higher
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:04:09 PM EDT | 06/17/2010
Preparing for the Backside of the Hurricane
By Keene Little | The stock market appears to be putting in the finishing touches to an A-B-C bounce off the May 25th low. If true then the next leg down is going to be strong. Tonight's letter provides some information on account protection.
Market Wrap
09:16:56 PM EDT | 06/16/2010
Traders Indecisive on Economic Data & Corporate News
By James Brown | The markets couldn't pick a direction today as investors sifted through mixed economic data and corporate news.
Market Wrap
08:36:52 PM EDT | 06/15/2010
Europe Finds A Bid
By Jim Brown | Investors started back into Europe with Spain, Belgium and Ireland selling debt into a suddenly healthy demand.
Market Wrap
08:21:53 PM EDT | 06/14/2010
Another Monday Heartbreaker
By Todd Shriber | Big gains squandered in the last hour...again.
Market Wrap
06:04:12 PM EDT | 06/12/2010
Paradigm Shift
By Jim Brown | Last week saw a major paradigm shift in investor sentiment due to the sudden burst of good economic news from around the world. Maybe we are not headed off the cliff as analysts thought.
Market Wrap
08:20:51 PM EDT | 06/10/2010
Gappy Market
By Keene Little | Anyone holding short-term trades overnight should be cured of that habit soon if not already. The huge gap moves on practically a daily basis, in both directions, makes it very risky to be anything other than a true day trader (going home flat at the end of the day).
Market Wrap
08:43:06 PM EDT | 06/09/2010
Oversold Bounce Has Reversed
By James Brown | The market's oversold bounce from the May lows has already reversed. The path of least resistance seems to be down.
Market Wrap
09:22:22 PM EDT | 06/08/2010
Weekly Short Squeeze
By Jim Brown | After the Dow and S&P closed at the lows for the year were due for a short squeeze.
Market Wrap
08:05:09 PM EDT | 06/07/2010
Last-Hour Jitters Doom Stocks Again
By Todd Shriber | Stocks plunge, gold soars as bulls run for cover.
Market Wrap
06:12:50 PM EDT | 06/05/2010
Estimates Busted!
By Jim Brown | Friday was a day for surprises with job growth in May coming in much lower than expected and Hungary became the new Greece.
Market Wrap
08:02:34 PM EDT | 06/03/2010
Market Consolidated in Front of Jobs Reports
By Keene Little | The market held Wednesday's gains (bullish) but the blue chips were unable to tack on any appreciable gains. Bullishly the techs and small caps saw some buying interest. Now we'll see if that interest holds on Friday.
Market Wrap
08:29:01 PM EDT | 06/02/2010
Home Sales & Analyst Upgrades Fuel Market Bounce
By James Brown | There was no follow through on the Tuesday afternoon sell-off. Maybe the market correction has exhausted itself.
Market Wrap
08:35:07 PM EDT | 06/01/2010
Another Late-Day Sell-Off Punishes Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Israel, BP overshadow positive economic data.
Market Wrap
07:03:44 PM EDT | 05/29/2010
Next EU Shoe Drops
By Jim Brown | The next shoe to drop in the Eurozone was a downgrade of Spain's credit rating by Fitch Ratings. We can expect further downgrades of other EU countries in the months ahead.
Market Wrap
07:55:46 PM EDT | 05/27/2010
China Comes Bearing Gifts
By Keene Little | China provided the soothing words about not intending to change their financial policy about selling European bonds and that's all the market needed to hear as the shorts ran for cover and bulls did some buying.
Market Wrap
02:01:42 PM EDT | 05/26/2010
Was that the bottom?
By John Gray | Some are suggesting that yesterday's V-shaped rebound off obvious support at the February lows (1040) means that the correction from late April is over. I'm not so sure. I think SPX may have a date with destiny at the huge gap up opening on July 5th which remains unfilled.
Market Wrap
09:27:17 PM EDT | 05/25/2010
Massive Rebound But Still A Loss
By Jim Brown | After the Dow gave up -292 points at the open there was a massive rebound at the close that pushed the S&P back into positive territory.
Market Wrap
08:42:21 PM EDT | 05/24/2010
The Bears Now Have Their Claws Into Mondays
By Todd Shriber | China, Oil Cannot Help U.S. Equities
Market Wrap
08:50:04 PM EDT | 05/22/2010
One-Day Rebound Or Reversal Of Downward Trend?
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
08:45:35 PM EDT | 05/20/2010
Europe Continues To Grip Equity Markets
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
00:49:33 PM EDT | 05/19/2010
That Wall of Worry is Just Too High
By John Gray | It is said that bulls like to climb a wall of worry, but the markets hate uncertainty and there is plenty of that (uncertainty) out there.
Market Wrap
08:30:17 PM EDT | 05/18/2010
Familiar Themes Send Stocks Lower
By Todd Shriber | Germany's short selling ban roils markets.
Market Wrap
08:21:25 PM EDT | 05/17/2010
Stocks Erase Losses, Book Small Gains
By Todd Shriber | Euro, oil continue their bearish ways.
Market Wrap
07:48:26 PM EDT | 05/15/2010
EU Stink Spreading
By Jim Brown | The financial contagion from the EU is spreading faster than the oil slick in the gulf and there is no end in sight.
Market Wrap
07:09:27 PM EDT | 05/13/2010
I See the New (Bad) Moon Rising
By Keene Little | The market turned down on the last full moon (April 28) and now it appears it may be ready to turn down on the new moon (May 14). With the market appearing to be ready to turn down in earnest, tonight it's time to update the long-range forecasts (into 2016).
Market Wrap
06:43:24 AM EDT | 05/12/2010
Looking Under the Hood
By John Gray | Upon closer examination there seems to be some parts that are missing.
Market Wrap
09:39:27 PM EDT | 05/11/2010
Mass Confusion
By Jim Brown | After opening with a -102 point drop, rebounding to a +87 point gain and then closing down -35 it is clear there is confusion everywhere
Market Wrap
09:04:19 PM EDT | 05/10/2010
Stocks Rally On European Loan Deal
By Todd Shriber | Relief rally ensues on news of $1 trillion bailout package.
Market Wrap
07:45:37 PM EDT | 05/08/2010
Abundance of Excuses
By Jim Brown | When the markets want to go down they will always find an excuse. Last week there were plenty excuses to choose from.
Market Wrap
07:34:43 PM EDT | 05/06/2010
What's a few extra zeroes amongst friends--the fat-fingered trade, or was it?
By Keene Little | The stock market was weak heading into the afternoon trading session and then the bottom fell out, literally. At one point the DOW was down just shy of 1000 points, losing more than 500 in just 5 minutes. But then the recovery off the low was just as eye-popping.
Market Wrap
04:10:31 AM EDT | 05/05/2010
What we have here is a conundrum.
By John Gray | "It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma". Churchill said this about Russia, but it could, just as easily, be said about today's markets.
Market Wrap
09:12:43 PM EDT | 05/04/2010
Global Economics Rule the Day
By Jim Brown | The Greek bailout or lack thereof, along with weaker economics out of China and a rate hike in Australia combined to rally the dollar and crush commodities and global markets.
Market Wrap
09:04:45 PM EDT | 05/03/2010
Economic Reports, M&A Jolt Stocks Higher
By Todd Shriber | Good news outweighs bad news, at least for one day.
Market Wrap
05:18:34 PM EDT | 05/01/2010
Oil Spill Greases Market Slide
By Jim Brown | The spill that won't die, the Greece debt debacle that won't go away and the next chapter in the Goldman saga all combined to crush the markets as April ended.
Market Wrap
06:29:25 PM EDT | 04/29/2010
Hope Springs Eternal
By Keene Little | The scary drop earlier in the week has been mostly recovered. Whew, glad that problem exists no longer. Or does it.
Market Wrap
09:21:53 PM EDT | 04/28/2010
PIIGS Continue To Drop, But Stocks Rebound
By Todd Shriber | Fed news helps stocks hold onto gains.
Market Wrap
09:47:18 PM EDT | 04/27/2010
Portugal Catches Greek Debt Flu
By Jim Brown | Greece problems worsened today when their debt was cut to junk status and the contagion spread to Portugal with their debt cut two notches.
Market Wrap
08:55:39 PM EDT | 04/26/2010
What Should Have Been...
By Todd Shriber | Financials lead the market lower.
Market Wrap
02:59:59 PM EDT | 04/24/2010
Bulls Win Tug of War
By Jim Brown | After a flurry of earnings disappointments and several sharp drops the bulls pulled it out at the close to push the indexes to new 52-week highs.
Market Wrap
07:58:16 PM EDT | 04/22/2010
The Market Wedges Higher
By Keene Little | On multiple timeframes there are rising wedge patterns with negative divergences supporting the bearishness of the patterns. The big question as of tonight is whether or not the market can hold up into the end of the month.
Market Wrap
08:30:25 PM EDT | 04/21/2010
Another Lackluster Day For Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Earnings not helping, but Greece remains a problem.
Market Wrap
08:35:46 PM EDT | 04/20/2010
96,000 iPhones A Day
By Jim Brown | Apple continues its domination of the smart phone space by selling 1.2 million iPhones more than analysts expected.
Market Wrap
07:59:04 PM EDT | 04/19/2010
Stocks Rebound From Friday Plunge...Sort Of
By Todd Shriber | Goldman Still In Regulators' Crosshairs
Market Wrap
07:39:08 PM EDT | 04/17/2010
SEC Attacks Goldman Sachs
By Jim Brown | Just when the bulls were starting to show some conviction the SEC files subprime fraud charges against Goldman and crushes the financial sector.
Market Wrap
07:48:38 PM EDT | 04/15/2010
Market Melt-up but the Tax Rally Might Be Done
By Keene Little | Just as we had a market meltdown into the March 2009 low, with uber-bearish sentiment, we now appear to be in a market melt-up with uber-bullish sentiment. As below, so above.
Market Wrap
08:31:19 PM EDT | 04/14/2010
Earnings, Economic Data Lift Stocks
By Todd Shriber | JPMorgan Chase, Beige Book and retail sales keep the rally going.
Market Wrap
08:17:08 PM EDT | 04/13/2010
Typical Earnings Squeeze
By Jim Brown | The rebound into the close today was a typical pre earnings spike as shorts covered ahead of a possible upside surprise from Intel.
Market Wrap
07:33:53 PM EDT | 04/12/2010
Greece News Helps Stocks To Small Gains
By Todd Shriber | Alcoa disappoints after-hours.
Market Wrap
04:43:06 PM EDT | 04/10/2010
Dow 11,000 Bell Has Rung
By Jim Brown | The Dow 11,000 bell was rung at the close and now the question is how long it remains at this level and will it move higher.
Market Wrap
07:48:54 PM EDT | 04/08/2010
The Down Button is Broken
By Keene Little | Some people keep trying the down button on the elevator only to have it overridden by more people wanting it to go up. Today's rally off the low was no exception.
Market Wrap
07:44:16 PM EDT | 04/07/2010
Consumers, Greece Drag Down Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Guess whose back? Unfortunately, Greece.
Market Wrap
08:56:13 PM EDT | 04/06/2010
Losing Traction?
By Jim Brown | The major indexes traded mixed most of the day with alternating periods in positive and negative territory as bulls appear to be losing traction.
Market Wrap
07:36:45 PM EDT | 04/05/2010
Markets Cheer Friday's Jobs Report
By Todd Shriber |
Market Wrap
05:38:54 PM EDT | 04/03/2010
The DOW, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Get Their Fifth Weekly Gains
By Keene Little | After February's strong showing, the market outdid itself and put in an even stronger March. The past week was a little touch and go but the bulls held on in an overbought market, thanks mostly to Thursday's rally.
Market Wrap
09:40:53 PM EDT | 04/01/2010
Market Closed On Friday
By Jim Brown | Since the market is closed on Friday the normal Thursday night market wrap by Keene will be produced in the weekend newsletter along with the update for the Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday morning.
Market Wrap
06:44:16 PM EDT | 03/31/2010
Stocks Derailed By Employment Forecast
By Todd Shriber | First quarter closes on down note.
Market Wrap
09:33:05 PM EDT | 03/30/2010
Sell the News Mode
By Jim Brown | Expectations appear to be fully priced into the market and every event seems to attract sellers rather than buyers.
Market Wrap
07:45:19 PM EDT | 03/29/2010
Once Again, Commodities Lead Stocks Higher
By Todd Shriber | Materials names star during the day, Apple shines after-hours.
Market Wrap
11:03:35 PM EDT | 03/27/2010
Race To Quarter End
By Jim Brown | With three days left in the quarter and the markets suddenly struggling to remain positive it appears the bulls could run out of money before we run out of month.
Market Wrap
07:02:19 PM EDT | 03/25/2010
Forest Gump Market
By Keene Little | Forest Gump liked to run and run and run. He didn't know how to stop, until one day he just stopped. Nothing changed. He just stopped. The market is close to the end point and with some reversal signals today, the market might have just stopped.
Market Wrap
07:34:25 PM EDT | 03/24/2010
European Concerns Pressure Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Portugal, new home sales lead to a down day.
Market Wrap
09:06:06 PM EDT | 03/23/2010
Melt-Up Gains Speed
By Jim Brown | The markets accelerated into the close as the S&P broke over 1170 and the Nasdaq broke over 2400. Both were seen as psychological resistance.
Market Wrap
07:42:09 PM EDT | 03/22/2010
Stocks Shrug Off Health-Care Bill To Book Monday Gains
By Todd Shriber | Political headwinds not enough to derail stocks.
Market Wrap
07:05:21 PM EDT | 03/20/2010
Dow Streak Expires
By Jim Brown | The Dow's consecutive winning streak of eight days was snapped on Friday due to a multitude of factors including quadruple witching expiration.
Market Wrap
07:33:07 PM EDT | 03/18/2010
Welcome to the Lawrence Welk Market
By Keene Little | I think the Fed chiefs that we've had must be Lawrence Welk fans--they must have really liked all those bubbles and have been trying for a long time now to create their own in the markets.
Market Wrap
07:49:13 PM EDT | 03/17/2010
Stocks Celebrate St. Patrick's Day The Right Way
By Todd Shriber | Green across the board on a day when green is always in style.
Market Wrap
09:30:47 PM EDT | 03/16/2010
Fed Turning Bullish
By Jim Brown | The markets continued to move higher after the Fed elected not to rock the boat and left rates unchanged.
Market Wrap
08:02:37 PM EDT | 03/15/2010
Stocks Rise, But Nasdaq Falters
By Todd Shriber | A sluggish day as investors await Fed minutes.
Market Wrap
06:20:51 PM EDT | 03/13/2010
Dow and NYSE Remain Laggards
By Jim Brown | All the major averages are breaking out to new highs with the exception of the Dow and the NYSE Composite.
Market Wrap
07:50:11 PM EDT | 03/11/2010
SPX Tags Its January High. Now What?
By Keene Little | SPX has actually been a bit of a laggard (not as bad as the DOW) in testing its January high. After today's close on it we're left to guess whether Friday will see short covering or if bulls will blink first.
Market Wrap
08:07:20 PM EDT | 03/10/2010
Financials Help Stocks To Another Winning Day
By Todd Shriber | Nasdaq continues to shine.
Market Wrap
09:29:53 PM EDT | 03/09/2010
Russell Leads, Nasdaq Follows
By Jim Brown | All the indexes except for the Dow and the S&P set new 52-week highs but a sell program at the close removed the majority of the day's gains.
Market Wrap
07:37:49 PM EDT | 03/08/2010
Not Terrible, But Kind Of Disappointing
By Todd Shriber | Stocks do not follow through on Friday's big gains.
Market Wrap
04:36:44 PM EDT | 03/06/2010
March Roars In Like A Lion
By Jim Brown | February may have left with a whimper but March roared in like a lion with strong gains across the board.
Market Wrap
07:50:05 PM EDT | 03/04/2010
Very Low Volume Day As the Market Waits
By Keene Little | The market essentially went on hold to wait for the job numbers Friday morning. Volume dried up and only a late-day push higher kept the markets from finishing at the flat line.
Market Wrap
08:02:41 PM EDT | 03/03/2010
Positive Economic Data Fails To Help The Bulls
By Todd Shriber | Dow, Nasdaq post small losses, S&P 500 ekes out small gain.
Market Wrap
08:20:52 PM EDT | 03/02/2010
Conviction Fades on Microsoft Comments
By Jim Brown | The major averages rallied for the fourth day but failed to hold the gains. Conviction faded after lunch when the indexes failed to maintain their upward momentum.
Market Wrap
07:23:34 PM EDT | 03/01/2010
This Time Around, Merger Monday Lifts Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Several big deals, ISM data buoy stocks on Monday.
Market Wrap
07:27:34 PM EDT | 02/27/2010
February Squeezes Out A Gain
By Jim Brown | February ended with a whimper with the markets barely positive on Friday but we saw decent gains for the month.
Market Wrap
07:56:41 PM EDT | 02/25/2010
The Ping-Pong Match Continues
By Keene Little | Like a fast ping-pong match we're seeing the ball batted back and forth between the bulls and the bears and so far there's no clear winner. Friday morning could provide it though.
Market Wrap
09:01:13 PM EDT | 02/24/2010
Bernanke Speaks; Investors Mostly Like the Sound
By Judy Alster | The market moves up on Ben Bernanke's remarks and some good earnings announcements; the dollar drops, oil rises.
Market Wrap
09:45:56 PM EDT | 02/23/2010
OOPS!
By Jim Brown | Economic numbers out today suggest the markets are way ahead of the economy. On the surface this was a serious blow to market sentiment.
Market Wrap
10:25:56 PM EDT | 02/22/2010
M&A News Not Enough To Boost Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Lethargic volume hampers the bulls...again.
Market Wrap
08:07:29 PM EDT | 02/20/2010
Game Changer?
By Jim Brown | The Fed's decision to start raising rates created some serious confusion in the markets. Is it really a game changer?
Market Wrap
08:01:41 PM EDT | 02/18/2010
The Fed May Have Spoiled a Nice Little Rally
By Keene Little | The bulls were doing so well since the February 5th low and this week's opex push had the market making a nice recovery. After the close the Fed took away the punch bowl and said the market will have to provide its own punch.
Market Wrap
08:53:00 PM EDT | 02/17/2010
Many Reports, Not Much Action
By Judy Alster | The Fed keeps rates way down, industrial production rises, retail stocks are up and there's good earnings news, but the indexes barely nudge resistance.
Market Wrap
09:45:24 PM EDT | 02/16/2010
Two In A Row
By Jim Brown | Tuesday was the second day of gains for the Dow/S&P and we have not seen back-to-back gains since Feb-2nd.
Market Wrap
09:48:27 PM EDT | 02/13/2010
Signs of Green Shoots in the Market?
By Jim Brown | The Dow shook off a -160 point loss at Friday's open that was caused by worries over China, negative earnings guidance and a realization that the Greece problem had not been solved.
Market Wrap
07:36:40 PM EDT | 02/11/2010
Slipperier Than a Greeced PIIG
By Keene Little | One would think that Greece holds the key to success for the world's markets. If Greece survives its financial conundrum it will mean the world's financial markets will also survive. Or so the story goes.
Market Wrap
08:02:57 PM EDT | 02/10/2010
Not Much Action While Waiting for Greece's Bailout
By Judy Alster | Despite mildly promising news about the trade deficit, the market didn't respond to much Wednesday.
Market Wrap
09:27:52 PM EDT | 02/09/2010
Never A Dull Moment
By Jim Brown | Shorts are getting a workout as news events continue to put the squeeze on the bears and provide false hopes for the bulls.
Market Wrap
08:12:17 PM EDT | 02/08/2010
European Debt Concerns Pummel Stocks...Again
By Todd Shriber | Stocks lose Monday magic as Dow closes below 10,000 for the first time since November.
Market Wrap
07:38:11 PM EDT | 02/06/2010
When PIGS Fly
By Jim Brown | The markets shook off a major decline at the close as shorts raced to cover on rumors there would be an aid package for Greece announced over the weekend.
Market Wrap
07:17:51 PM EDT | 02/04/2010
Nowhere To Hide
By Keene Little | The metals, semiconductors and energy were down hard today and even the defensive sectors such as drugs and healthcare got hit. There was nowhere to hide from today's carnage.
Market Wrap
00:09:47 AM EDT | 02/03/2010
Mostly Static Session After a Double Rally
By Judy Alster | Some good earnings help individual stocks Wednesday, but not the big picture. After back-to-back gains, the market pulls back, staring at resistance.
Market Wrap
00:09:47 AM EDT | 02/04/2010
Mostly Static Session After a Double Rally
By Judy Alster | Some good earnings help individual stocks Wednesday, but not the big picture. After back-to-back gains, the market pulls back, staring at resistance.
Market Wrap
08:59:20 PM EDT | 02/02/2010
Short Squeeze Surprise Continues
By Jim Brown | You have to love a market that can take the worst internals in months and the worst sentiment and turn it into two days of triple digit gains.
Market Wrap
08:01:17 PM EDT | 02/01/2010
Stocks Stop The Bleeding...At Least For A Day
By Todd Shriber | ISM data, Exxon Mobil earnings help stocks rally.
Market Wrap
09:16:07 PM EDT | 01/30/2010
No Surprise Here
By Jim Brown | The market's continued decline after the Microsoft earnings, Bernanke confirmation and SOTU speech was no surprise to anyone reading these pages. I have been warning for several weeks that there would be nothing to hold up the market once these news events passed.
Market Wrap
08:09:45 PM EDT | 01/28/2010
Bernanke Bust
By Keene Little | The Senate confirmation hearings for Bernanke involved the usual political grandstanding but by the end of the day he was confirmed for another tour of duty. The market didn't seem to care today and sold off.
Market Wrap
11:12:35 AM EDT | 01/27/2010
No Surprises from the Fed, Market Up Slightly
By Judy Alster | No jolts from the Fed, mass layoffs slow, new home sales fall and we get a slew of earnings, some of them pretty good. The market rises, but barely.
Market Wrap
01:12:35 AM EDT | 01/28/2010
No Surprises from the Fed, Market Up Slightly
By Judy Alster | No jolts from the Fed, mass layoffs slow, new home sales fall and we get a slew of earnings, some of them pretty good. The market rises, but barely.
Market Wrap
09:06:30 PM EDT | 01/26/2010
Preview of Things to Come
By Jim Brown | Tuesday's rally failure could be a preview of things to come based on less than exciting earnings, weaker housing numbers, fear of the Fed and the Speech on Wednesday.
Market Wrap
09:47:18 PM EDT | 01/25/2010
Stocks Reverse Losing Ways, But Not In Impressive Fashion
By Todd Shriber | Only small dents made in last week's huge losses.
Market Wrap
07:00:16 PM EDT | 01/23/2010
Populist Politics
By Jim Brown | The market crashed on Friday not because of an earnings disaster or a warning from a high profile company. The market extended its decline to three days because politicians are trying to distract you.
Market Wrap
08:03:36 PM EDT | 01/21/2010
The January Rally Is In Jeopardy
By Keene Little | It took eleven trading days to make a high for January on Tuesday. It took two trading days to take it all back.
Market Wrap
11:03:13 PM EDT | 01/20/2010
Fair-Enough Earnings, but Market Falls on China News
By Judy Alster | Earnings were respectable although revenue could have been better; stocks plummeted on the policy-tightening news out of China but regained some ground.
Market Wrap
09:35:56 PM EDT | 01/19/2010
What Can Brown Do For You?
By Jim Brown | This rally brought to you by Brown, Scott Brown. The weekend leap into the lead in the Massachusetts senate race by Scott Brown sent shorts racing to cover those Friday positions
Market Wrap
02:07:07 PM EDT | 01/16/2010
Bump In The Road
By Jim Brown | A classic sell the news event knocked all the indexes into the loss column for the week. Intel may have knocked the cover off the ball but the chip sector was penalized for running up ahead of the report.
Market Wrap
07:59:46 PM EDT | 01/14/2010
Market Rallies Into INTC/JPM Earnings
By Keene Little | For as many times as the market experiences a sell-the-news reaction to a high-profile event, such as earnings, one would think traders would be leery. But the market has high hopes and rallied on those hopes today.
Market Wrap
10:41:32 PM EDT | 01/13/2010
New Highs Despite a Rocketing Deficit
By Judy Alster | Neither an unexciting Beige Book nor a colossal deficit could keep the market down Wednesday. New highs and a jump for healthcare and finance.
Market Wrap
09:16:32 PM EDT | 01/12/2010
Where Did the Earnings Go?
By Jim Brown | This is supposed to be the start of a bullish earnings cycle but instead we are seeing earnings misses and earnings warnings. If this week is a preview of this cycle the bulls are going to be very disappointed.
Market Wrap
08:16:49 PM EDT | 01/11/2010
Monday Delivers A Mixed Bag
By Todd Shriber | S&P 500 moves higher for sixth straight day, but Nasdaq lags.
Market Wrap
07:31:16 PM EDT | 01/09/2010
2010 Surges Off the Starting Line
By Jim Brown | I am sure we all wish the rest of the year is as strong as the first week. The Dow gained +1.8% and it was the laggard of the group. The Nasdaq added +2.12% and S&P 2.68%. It was a perfect example of an index fund rally with the S&P leading the charge.
Market Wrap
07:56:28 PM EDT | 01/07/2010
The Marathon Rally (Barely) Continues
By Keene Little | Other than the banks and healthcare stocks, which were on fire today, the rest of the market is struggling to add points to the board. But you can't argue with success--green points are better than red points.
Market Wrap
11:53:18 PM EDT | 01/06/2010
Reports Galore, but Indexes Tread Water
By Judy Alster | Decelerating unemployment, a reviving services sector, even the FOMC report couldn't move the market much. Commodities had a good day, though.
Market Wrap
09:51:49 PM EDT | 01/05/2010
Cracks In Market Armor
By Jim Brown | Monday's big rally gave back some ground intraday as cracks began to form in market support. However, the buyers stepped in once again and brought the indexes back to level before day's end.
Market Wrap
08:16:56 PM EDT | 01/04/2010
New Year, Old Catalysts
By Todd Shriber | Familiar themes from 2009 jolt stocks in first trading day of 2010.
Market Wrap
10:30:51 PM EDT | 01/02/2010
Preview of Things To Come?
By Jim Brown | The Dow lost -120 points on Thursday and most of that in a major sell program at the close. That was the second of the last three trading days to implode in the last 30 minutes.
Market Wrap
10:59:31 PM EDT | 12/30/2009
Major Indexes Up Again, But for How Long?
By Judy Alster | The Chicago PMI continues its rise; so does the dollar; so does oil; so do the major indexes. The VIX is below 20, though, and the TRIN above 1.
Market Wrap
08:47:13 PM EDT | 12/29/2009
Seven Was An Unlucky Number
By Jim Brown | The string of consecutive Dow gains was snapped at seven with the Dow closing down less than 2 points. The S&P and Nasdaq also lost a couple and it was a testament to window dressing that all the averages remained near their highs on very low volume.
Market Wrap
07:59:19 PM EDT | 12/28/2009
Afternoon Rally Keeps the Bull Run at Six Days
By Keene Little | The bulls were looking at their first losing day in a week but a couple of buy programs at the end of the day kept the winning streak alive. Now if they could only get a little volume behind this rally.
Market Wrap
07:03:43 PM EDT | 12/26/2009
An End-of-Year Review of Long-Term Cycles
By Keene Little | This year's Santa Claus rally has been a good one--most indexes were up 2%-3% for the week which is better than most Santa Claus rallies. Now if only Santa could wave away the longer-term cycles.
Market Wrap
10:10:34 PM EDT | 12/23/2009
Rally Slows on Housing News, Small Caps Gain
By Judy Alster | Bad housing news tries but can't keep the indexes down. Income and spending up, oil rises on lower supplies, small caps win.
Market Wrap
09:38:31 PM EDT | 12/22/2009
Santa Claus Rally Comes Early
By Jim Brown | Santa came early with the S&P and Nasdaq closing at new highs for the year. The good economic news was spreading holiday spirit and rewarding the bulls for their faithfulness.
Market Wrap
07:30:47 PM EDT | 12/21/2009
Healthcare, M&A Boost Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Merger Monday, analyst upgrades help investors feel some holiday cheer.
Market Wrap
07:43:53 PM EDT | 12/19/2009
Another Round Trip
By Jim Brown | The Dow traded on both ends of its recent range to make four consecutive weeks of round trips from top to bottom. The quadruple witching produced volume of more than 11.3 billion shares on Friday but no real market gains.
Market Wrap
07:43:36 PM EDT | 12/17/2009
Ping-Pong Market
By Keene Little | The trading range continues as the market remains stuck in limbo land. The post-FOMC selling looks bearish but the bulls haven't lost it yet.
Market Wrap
11:05:48 PM EDT | 12/16/2009
Many Reports, Not Much Action for the Broad Indexes
By Judy Alster | A slew of important economic reports and some solid stock moves, but the indexes tread water.
Market Wrap
10:33:49 PM EDT | 12/15/2009
Waiting On The Fed
By Jim Brown | We have seen this pattern many times before. Equities rise based on hopes for an optimistic Fed outcome then cautious bulls began to get nervous and move to the sidelines to avoid an unpleasant surprise. Add in the sharp increase in inflation in this morning's reports and there is even more reason for caution.
Market Wrap
08:00:36 PM EDT | 12/14/2009
Positive Catalysts Abound As Stocks Start The Week Higher
By Todd Shriber | M&A, TARP repayments and Dubai help send stocks higher.
Market Wrap
08:02:10 PM EDT | 12/12/2009
High Volatility, No Change
By Jim Brown | A quick look at the first graphic shows that despite all the volatility for the week the major indexes, with the exception of the Dow and NYSE closed almost exactly where they ended the prior week. Less than a 1-point change on the S&P-500, S&P-100 and Nasdaq 100 should be telling us something.
Market Wrap
07:53:54 PM EDT | 12/10/2009
One and Done
By Keene Little | Whoever is behind the buy programs at the open (I'll give you one guess) they're good at flaming the shorts but not good for follow through. By the end of the day we were left to guess whether or not there will be some follow through to the upside.
Market Wrap
10:03:51 PM EDT | 12/09/2009
Indexes Make Small Gains, but Nothing Special Wednesday
By Judy Alster | It was "baby steps" Wednesday for most of the market -- except for companies with disappointing earnings. Crude supplies up, wholesale inventories break a losing streak, gold stops falling.
Market Wrap
09:07:46 PM EDT | 12/08/2009
What A Revolting Development This Is!
By Jim Brown | Depending on your age your probably remember the frequent use of that headline sentence by either Groucho Marx, William Bendix in Life of Riley or more recently Daffy Duck. Regardless of who you remember the phrase definitely applies to today's market.
Market Wrap
07:16:17 PM EDT | 12/07/2009
Mixed Message Monday
By Todd Shriber | Monday's trade fails to illicit much excitement.
Market Wrap
05:08:01 PM EDT | 12/05/2009
Great News, Bad Reaction
By Jim Brown | The surprising Non-Farm Payrolls sent the Dow up +150 at the open only to see a return to negative territory a few minutes later. The volatility was extreme and recent winners became big losers.
Market Wrap
08:28:30 PM EDT | 12/03/2009
Another Top
By Keene Little | Since mid November each attempt at a high has been sold into. It's the mark of a distribution pattern and today was no different. But today's top might carry a little more weight than the others.
Market Wrap
10:07:14 PM EDT | 12/02/2009
Employment Still Disappoints, Small-Caps Shine
By Judy Alster | Job losses are down but not enough; many investors seemed to wait on the sidelines for Friday's big employment announcement. Beige Book wasn't bad, major indexes don't do much, gold keeps soaring, oil off, utilities surprise.
Market Wrap
10:07:14 PM EDT | 12/02/2009
Employment Still Disappoints, Small-Caps Shine
By Judy Alster | Job losses are down but not enough; many investors seemed to wait on the sidelines for Friday's big employment announcement. Beige Book wasn't bad, major indexes don't do much, gold keeps soaring, oil off, utilities surprise.
Market Wrap
09:27:26 PM EDT | 12/01/2009
Dow Closes At 52-Week High
By Jim Brown | The markets rallied as tensions over Dubai eased and traders went back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday. The rally was broad based with all indexes posting nearly identical percentage gains.
Market Wrap
07:26:08 PM EDT | 11/30/2009
Stocks Rise As Dubai Fears Cool
By Todd Shriber | Up day not enough to lift S&P 500 back above 1100.
Market Wrap
10:31:40 PM EDT | 11/28/2009
Black Friday Market
By Jim Brown | The potential for a Dubai debt default roiled the global markets with fears there may be more financial monsters left under the bed.
Market Wrap
08:39:45 PM EDT | 11/26/2009
Dubai Default
By Keene Little | The overnight news out of Dubai, with the government essentially defaulting on their loan, has spooked the world markets. U.S. equity futures got hit hard into Thursday morning so it's a scary setup heading into Friday.
Market Wrap
10:09:18 PM EDT | 11/25/2009
Decent News Wednesday Keeps Dow, S&P Up
By Judy Alster | A big slate of not-bad economic data managed to keep the indexes up Wednesday.
Market Wrap
08:52:15 PM EDT | 11/24/2009
Ready, Set, Shop!
By Jim Brown | The market struggled to hold its gains from Monday and although it finished near the highs of the day most investors were probably more focused on the early ads for Black Friday than buying stocks.
Market Wrap
07:59:27 PM EDT | 11/23/2009
Stocks Move Higher Led By Weak Dollar, Strong Home Sales Data
By Todd Shriber | Gold continues bullish run as dollar dives again.
Market Wrap
03:49:39 PM EDT | 11/21/2009
Pause To Reload Or Running Out Of Steam?
By Jim Brown | The bears are coming out of the forest again after only a couple days of market declines. We are facing that age-old question of market top or market rest?
Market Wrap
07:27:41 PM EDT | 11/19/2009
Does the Dollar Make Cents?
By Keene Little | The dollar rallied today and the stock market declined. If we only knew what the dollar would do we could make trading plans for the stock market. Tonight we'll review what the dollar is telling us.
Market Wrap
09:21:06 PM EDT | 11/18/2009
Market's Winning Streak Stalls
By Judy Alster | CPI not much changed. Market shrugs off disappointing housing news, closes down a fraction; some tech stocks lose after downgrades and glum forecasts.
Market Wrap
09:25:06 PM EDT | 11/17/2009
Meager Gains But Still Gains
By Jim Brown | It was a fight but the major big cap indexes shook off early morning weakness to end with very small gains. The Russell and the NYSE Composite were the exceptions with fractional losses.
Market Wrap
07:42:06 PM EDT | 11/16/2009
Stocks Surge To Fresh 2009 Highs Buoyed By Familiar Themes
By Todd Shriber | Commodities soar, dollar slumps. What else is new?
Market Wrap
06:25:09 PM EDT | 11/14/2009
Friday The 13th, Not A Problem
By Jim Brown | Investors avoided black cats, broken mirrors and walking under ladders as they shook off the date with a decent rebound off Thursday's lows and the second week of strong gains.
Market Wrap
07:40:28 PM EDT | 11/12/2009
Head-Fake Day Before Opex Week?
By Keene Little | If today's decline was used by big money to position themselves for a bullish opex week, we could see the market take off to the upside again. But they better be fast because there are some nasty bearish signs popping up.
Market Wrap
09:57:26 PM EDT | 11/11/2009
Dow, S&P Hit Highs as Rally Continues
By Judy Alster | Stocks lost early gains, but righted themselves to keep the rally going broadly. Only question is, when will the big volume kick in?
Market Wrap
09:57:26 PM EDT | 11/11/2009
Dow, S&P Hit Highs as Rally Continues
By Judy Alster | Stocks lost early gains, but righted themselves to keep the rally going broadly. Only question is, when will the big volume kick in?
Market Wrap
08:57:25 PM EDT | 11/10/2009
Consolidation Day
By Jim Brown | After Monday's big short squeeze the markets wandered aimlessly as traders consolidated recent gains. Considering the +475 point gain in the Dow over the last week this was a needed rest.
Market Wrap
07:08:05 PM EDT | 11/09/2009
Bulls Stampede On Monday, Led By Blue Chips
By Todd Shriber | Is there anything to stand in the way of this rally?
Market Wrap
03:23:14 PM EDT | 11/07/2009
Uncertain Markets
By Jim Brown | The Dow crept a little higher over 10K but the gain was as timid and uncertain as a schoolboy's first kiss.
Market Wrap
08:05:39 PM EDT | 11/05/2009
Hello Again: Dow Traverses 10000 In Best Trading Day Since July
By Todd Shriber | All sectors trade higher, but jobs report will control Friday's trade.
Market Wrap
09:27:30 PM EDT | 11/04/2009
Good News Wasn't Much Help
By Judy Alster | Mostly upbeat reports on the economy and unemployment couldn't stop the indexes from giving up big gains.
Market Wrap
08:59:07 PM EDT | 11/03/2009
Calm Before the Storm
By Jim Brown | The markets wandered aimlessly on Tuesday and alternated between gains and losses as we await the results of the Fed meeting on Wednesday.
Market Wrap
07:56:32 PM EDT | 11/02/2009
Market Starts the Month of November on a Mixed Note
By Keene Little | The blue chips got a little bounce today but small caps finished in the red. Both produced more or less a doji kind of day, leaving both side guessing.
Market Wrap
09:56:16 PM EDT | 10/28/2009
Disappointing Reports Slam the Market
By Judy Alster | A less-than-sensational durable goods report and declining home sales send the market plunging; crude falls, the dollar edges up.
Market Wrap
09:56:16 PM EDT | 10/28/2009
Disappointing Reports Slam the Market
By Judy Alster | A less-than-sensational durable goods report and declining home sales send the market plunging; crude falls, the dollar edges up.
Market Wrap
02:22:34 PM EDT | 10/31/2009
October Ends With A Rout
By Jim Brown | Weak economics, cautious earnings outlooks and fiscal year end for mutual funds combined to push the indexes to their lowest levels in three weeks.
Market Wrap
07:47:34 PM EDT | 10/29/2009
Oversold Bounce or the Start of Another Rally Leg
By Keene Little | The question is on everyone's mind--was today's rally just an oversold bounce or did we just start the next leg up that will take the market to new highs? It's too early to know for sure but we've got some things to watch for.
Market Wrap
09:56:16 PM EDT | 10/28/2009
Disappointing Reports Slam the Market
By Judy Alster | A less-than-sensational durable goods report and declining home sales send the market plunging; crude falls, the dollar edges up.
Market Wrap
09:10:47 PM EDT | 10/27/2009
Economics Fading Along With Earnings
By Jim Brown | Consumer confidence hits a three-month low as earnings reports fail to impress traders.
Market Wrap
07:43:16 PM EDT | 10/26/2009
Commodities, Financials Lead Stocks Lower
By Todd Shriber | ''Strong'' dollar provides lames excuse for equity declines.
Market Wrap
05:36:49 PM EDT | 10/24/2009
Good News Fails To Impress
By Jim Brown | Despite a week of earnings that beat the street and some major gains in individual stocks the markets gave up their gains on Friday.
Market Wrap
07:52:39 PM EDT | 10/22/2009
Bulls Send the Bears Back to Their Caves
By Keene Little | Yesterday's strong selloff into the close had the bears licking their chops as the market sunk further this morning. But by the end of the day the bears were instead licking their wounds.
Market Wrap
09:06:12 PM EDT | 10/21/2009
Downgrade Triggers Slide, Market Falls
By Judy Alster | Better-than-expected earnings can't overcome resistance and a downgrade, the Fed doesn't have much great news, oil continues skyward while Dow 10,000 and S&P 1,100 fade.
Market Wrap
09:41:31 PM EDT | 10/20/2009
Strong Earnings, Mixed Economics
By Jim Brown | Two days into the second heaviest week of earnings and investors are already becoming less interested. Add in a drop in housing and the markets gave up some of its gains.
Market Wrap
08:18:01 PM EDT | 10/19/2009
Earnings Reports Continue To Buoy Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Tuesday could be another big day as Apple blows away estimates.
Market Wrap
02:23:03 PM EDT | 10/17/2009
Volatility Hits 12 Month Low
By Jim Brown | The Dow shook off an early morning dip and some expiration volatility to rebound +60 points off the lows and close right at 10,000 once again. Given the factors that could have pushed it lower this was a bullish recovery.
Market Wrap
07:54:43 PM EDT | 10/15/2009
DOW Tests and Holds 10K
By Keene Little | The market started the day with a negative tone but gradually recovered all day and the DOW in particular got a good boost at the end of the day. The techs weren't loved quite as much.
Market Wrap
09:14:57 PM EDT | 10/14/2009
Earnings Look Genuine, Dow Breaks 10,000
By Judy Alster | Better-than-expected reports from all over take the Dow above 10,000 for the first time in more than a year; S&P500 and Nasdaq follow suit.
Market Wrap
07:35:24 PM EDT | 10/13/2009
Financials, Healthcare Lead Market Lower
By Todd Shriber | Intel delivers another strong report after the close and that could mean a strong Wednesday.
Market Wrap
08:33:19 PM EDT | 10/12/2009
Earnings Optimism Lifts Stocks To One-Year High
By Todd Shriber | Stocks rise, but this was no sequel to Columbus Day 2008.
Market Wrap
02:25:10 PM EDT | 10/10/2009
Cotton Anniversary
By Jim Brown | The Dow closed at a new high for the year on Friday. This was also the two-year anniversary, cotton in anniversary parlance, of the all time high of 14,164 on Oct-9th 2007. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then.
Market Wrap
07:58:37 PM EDT | 10/08/2009
Today Was Head-Fake Thursday or the Start of Another Opex Run
By Keene Little | The Thursday prior to opex week had become known as the head-fake day or misdirection day as the direction into opex week would often reverse the direction of the prior Thursday. Now we wait to see how today's rally fares.
Market Wrap
09:09:38 PM EDT | 10/07/2009
Market Flat While Investors Wait for Earnings
By Judy Alster | Even an earnings surprise from Alcoa couldn't move the market as investors chose to wait for more news. Consumer credit keeps contracting, gasoline demand is up.
Market Wrap
09:09:38 PM EDT | 10/07/2009
Market Flat While Investors Wait for Earnings
By Judy Alster | Even an earnings surprise from Alcoa couldn't move the market as investors chose to wait for more news. Consumer credit keeps contracting, gasoline demand is up.
Market Wrap
08:40:45 PM EDT | 10/06/2009
Falling Dollar Pushes Markets Higher
By Jim Brown | The markets continue to confound analysts with the best two days performance since the middle of August. It was not without some volatility with the Dow dropping -108 points off its high intraday.
Market Wrap
07:42:45 PM EDT | 10/05/2009
Gold And Goldman Boost Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Stocks resume their bullish ways helped by commodities and a Goldman Sachs upgrade of large banks.
Market Wrap
06:05:22 PM EDT | 10/03/2009
October Arrives With A Thud
By Jim Brown | The fourth quarter started out miserably with a -200 point drop on Thursday and a continued decline on Friday. The damage was not as bad on Friday as you may have expected but the trend is still down.
Market Wrap
07:43:39 PM EDT | 10/01/2009
Quarter-End Hangover
By Keene Little | There was a big effort to prop the market up into the end of the month/quarter yesterday and the result was a hangover today. Now we await some clues as to whether it will be a one-day hangover or something worse.
Market Wrap
08:48:25 PM EDT | 09/30/2009
Down Day, but an Up Month and Quarter
By Judy Alster |
Market Wrap
08:44:47 PM EDT | 09/29/2009
Just Passing Time
By Jim Brown | Fund managers are counting the minutes left in the third quarter in hopes of escaping with near record gains. Managers are hoping their window dressing holds up for at least one more day so they can book their Q3 profits and cement year end bonuses.
Market Wrap
07:29:48 PM EDT | 09/28/2009
Return Of Merger Monday Spurs Stocks
By Todd Shriber | Big deals encourage buyers, but beware the light volume.
Market Wrap
04:47:57 PM EDT | 09/26/2009
The Pause That Refreshes
By Jim Brown | I am sure Coca Cola won't mind if I use their advertising slogan to describe the calm decline in the markets as they head into month end. This could be the pause that refreshes the bulls.
Market Wrap
07:21:28 PM EDT | 09/24/2009
Heading into October with High Valuations
By Keene Little | A key reversal day on Wednesday was followed by more selling on Thursday. We're close to a major sell signal for the stock market but the bulls haven't lost it yet.
Market Wrap
08:55:52 PM EDT | 09/23/2009
Indexes Up, then Down, After Fed Action
By Judy Alster |
Market Wrap
07:43:46 PM EDT | 09/22/2009
What A Difference A Day Makes
By Todd Shriber | Buy the dips works as again as investors renew risk appetite.
Market Wrap
07:23:44 PM EDT | 09/21/2009
Investors Want More, Can The Market Deliver?
By Todd Shriber | Stocks may be vulnerable as investors start to demand growth.
Market Wrap
08:40:32 AM EDT | 09/19/2009
Laszlo Birinyi, Ben Bernanke and Warren Buffet Say It's So
By Linda Piazza | Laszlo Birinyi and FOMC President Ben Bernanke sounded the news that the recession has ended, with Birinyi insisting that U.S. equities have room to climb further. Warren Buffett chimed in with his plans to buy equities.
Market Wrap
07:30:20 PM EDT | 09/17/2009
Stocks Fall, But Rally Is Probably Resting, Not Faltering
By Todd Shriber | Big names lead declines, but it could just be another buying opportunity.
Market Wrap
08:39:14 PM EDT | 09/16/2009
Market's on a Roll, for Now
By Judy Alster |
Market Wrap
08:10:35 PM EDT | 09/15/2009
What Correction?
By Jim Brown | Money manager Laszlo Birinyi said today that investors who wait to buy stocks until the recession is actually declared to be over will miss out on some huge gains. Bernanke said today, "The recession is very likely over." Is that the proverbial fat lady singing?
Market Wrap
07:50:18 PM EDT | 09/14/2009
Pulled From the Water and Saved From Drowning Again
By Keene Little | Like last Thursday, a gap down open was immediately reversed and the market ended slightly higher. That will work only so many times.
Market Wrap
02:38:47 PM EDT | 09/12/2009
FedEx Delivers
By Jim Brown | Traders tried hard to stretch the positive streak to six gains in a row but came up a little short. We are nearly half way through September and markets are setting new highs. Bears are completely confused.
Market Wrap
07:53:13 PM EDT | 09/10/2009
Rally Up to Resistance--The Market Can't Blink Here
By Keene Little | The market pushed several indexes and sectors right up against resistance at today's high lines today. Now the question is what's next.
Market Wrap
08:56:25 PM EDT | 09/09/2009
S&P, Nasdaq Close at 11-Month Highs
By Judy Alster | Despite frustrating consumer news from the Fed, market rises for fourth straight day; S&P and Nasdaq hit 11-month high, oil, industrial, financials up
Market Wrap
08:43:26 PM EDT | 09/08/2009
Lack of Traction
By Jim Brown | After a monster buildup in the overnight futures the cash market failed to impress as every minor uptick lost traction with a partial slide backwards. It was still a winner at the close and that is all that counts.
Market Wrap
06:37:13 PM EDT | 09/05/2009
Highest Unemployment In 26 Years
By Jim Brown | The markets shook off the unemployment news and posted a strong rebound but despite two days of decent gains they still finished the week in the red.
Market Wrap
07:54:33 PM EDT | 09/03/2009
Sellers Halted After Four Days of Selling
By Keene Little | After some intense selling pressure earlier this week the market got a respite and ended the selling streak at four days. If only the positive day was accompanied by greater volume.
Market Wrap
08:27:59 PM EDT | 09/02/2009
Economic News Not Too Bad, but Nobody Cared
By Judy Alster | Despite some encouraging economic reports, the market and the dollar ended lower.
Market Wrap
08:40:22 PM EDT | 09/01/2009
Trader, Do You Want To Step Outside?
By Jim Brown | September, the worst month of the year for the stock market, showed up for work this morning with a bad attitude and a chip on it's shoulder.
Market Wrap
07:16:04 PM EDT | 08/31/2009
Is The Well Finally Running Dry?
By Todd Shriber | M&A activity cannot spur stocks as financials, Chinese stocks weigh on the market.
Market Wrap
02:42:00 PM EDT | 08/29/2009
Hand Me the Paddles
By Jim Brown | After the prior weeks rally the bull looks a little faint this week and was barely able to keep the indexes in the green. Maybe it is time to apply the electric shock paddles and restart the old bull's ticker.
Market Wrap
07:36:27 PM EDT | 08/27/2009
End of Month Push Keeps the Bulls in Control
By Keene Little | The bulls mantra appears to be "I ain't afraid of no bear" as they took a steep selloff in the morning and turned it to their advantage and looked at is yet another buying opportunity. An end-of-month effort to hold the market up may have helped.
Market Wrap
08:15:59 PM EDT | 08/26/2009
A Yawn, Despite Good News from Housing and Durables
By Judy Alster | A few stocks moved, but "lackluster" was the word of the day. Even encouraging reports for housing and durable goods couldn't drive the market up.
Market Wrap
08:15:59 PM EDT | 08/26/2009
A Yawn, Despite Good News from Housing and Durables
By Judy Alster | A few stocks moved, but "lackluster" was the word of the day. Even encouraging reports for housing and durable goods couldn't drive the market up.
Market Wrap
08:15:59 PM EDT | 08/26/2009
A Yawn, Despite Good News from Housing and Durables
By Judy Alster | A few stocks moved, but "lackluster" was the word of the day. Even encouraging reports for housing and durable goods couldn't drive the market up.
Market Wrap
09:32:15 PM EDT | 08/25/2009
Inch By Inch
By Jim Brown | The markets continued to hit new highs but the progress is painstakingly slow with every move two steps forward and one step back but the direction is still higher.
Market Wrap
06:59:49 PM EDT | 08/24/2009
Financials Lead Stocks Lower On A Day Lacking Catalysts
By Todd Shriber | Friday's excitement fades as stocks chalk up some small Monday losses.
Market Wrap
05:43:41 PM EDT | 08/22/2009
Long Live the Bull
By Jim Brown | Shorts relived their worst nightmare once again as existing home sales and positive comments from Ben Bernanke spiked the markets higher at the open.
Market Wrap
07:20:46 PM EDT | 08/20/2009
Real Rebound Or Just A Head Fake?
By Todd Shriber | Stocks march higher for a third straight day, but volume is tepid at best.
Market Wrap
08:13:47 PM EDT | 08/19/2009
Drop in Crude Supplies Sends Market Higher
By Judy Alster | An unexpected drop in crude and gasoline supplies nudges the market higher as investors wonder, "Is the economy looking up?"
Market Wrap
09:21:06 PM EDT | 08/18/2009
Turnaround Tuesday?
By Jim Brown | The rebound lacked intensity and shorts loaded up again at the end of the day but it was a rebound. Worries about a drop to S&P 950 or even 900 seemed to evaporate as the day drew to a close.
Market Wrap
07:55:26 PM EDT | 08/17/2009
Topping Signs Abound
By Keene Little | After trying hard to break through some important resistance levels, with a two-week struggle between the bulls and the bears, today's selloff is a strong indication that the bulls blinked.
Market Wrap
03:02:24 PM EDT | 08/15/2009
No Harm Done, Yet
By Jim Brown | The markets may have posted their first weekly loss in five weeks but there was no damage. The decline on Friday was minimal and exactly to uptrend support.
Market Wrap
07:30:53 PM EDT | 08/13/2009
The Bears Have Bailed
By Keene Little | The rally off the March low has certainly accomplished one thing--it has convinced the majority of bears that shorting this market is not working and we've seen a significant drop in the short interest ratio. That could be bearish.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
07:53:43 PM EDT | 08/12/2009
Stocks Roar Back on Fed Report
By Judy Alster | The Fed vows to keep rates low, housing seems to stabilize, and a jump in exports for the month all contribute to a big day in the market.
Market Wrap
09:25:37 PM EDT | 08/11/2009
Two In A Row Is Not A Trend
By Jim Brown | The markets closed down for the second day but despite the decline there is still no change in trend. The indexes only retreated to initial support and the profit taking was very orderly.
Market Wrap
07:25:09 PM EDT | 08/10/2009
A Little Breather, Is There More To Come?
By Todd Shriber | Stocks take a pause, but declines are not too concerning...yet.
Market Wrap
04:21:14 PM EDT | 08/08/2009
Another Week, Another One Day Rally
By Jim Brown | For the second consecutive week the markets wandered sideways to down as shorts gained confidence only to be surprised by another one-day short squeeze to spike the indexes higher.
Market Wrap
07:45:17 PM EDT | 08/06/2009
Waning Momentum but Bulls Holding On
By Keene Little | Reminiscent of the high in 2007 in more than ways than one, the current rally is displaying many of the same signs, including warning signs.
Market Wrap
08:15:56 PM EDT | 08/05/2009
Service-Sector News Helps Cool Rally
By Judy Alster | An avalanche of news -- job-cut announcements, service sector reports, crude supplies -- take the luster off the rally. Market closes well off its lows, though.
Market Wrap
09:09:37 PM EDT | 08/04/2009
Barely Green
By Jim Brown | Positive economic news pushed interest rate sensitive stocks higher to overcome early declines. The major indexes continued to flirt with losses until only minutes before the close but the bulls finally won out
Market Wrap
07:16:41 PM EDT | 08/03/2009
Psychological Barriers? Yeah, Right
By Todd Shriber | Market blasts through important resistance levels as stocks extend rally.
Market Wrap
07:49:23 PM EDT | 08/01/2009
Struggling To Stay Afloat
By Jim Brown | The major indexes managed to close the week with a gain but were it not for Thursday's short squeeze it could have been a much different story.
Market Wrap
07:42:34 PM EDT | 07/30/2009
Rally Complete
By Keene Little | After rallying up to resistance on lower than normal volume the selling from there caused the down volume to beat out up volume for the day on what looked like a bullish day. There are some other topping signals to look at.
Market Wrap
09:07:30 PM EDT | 07/29/2009
The Rally Takes a Breather
By Judy Alster | Lower crude, cautious news from the Fed and profit-taking slow the recent rally, but not much.
Market Wrap
09:07:30 PM EDT | 07/29/2009
The Rally Takes a Breather
By Judy Alster | Lower crude, cautious news from the Fed and profit-taking slow the recent rally, but not much.
Market Wrap
09:07:30 PM EDT | 07/29/2009
The Rally Takes a Breather
By Judy Alster | Lower crude, cautious news from the Fed and profit-taking slow the recent rally, but not much.
Market Wrap
09:07:30 PM EDT | 07/29/2009
The Rally Takes a Breather
By Judy Alster | Lower crude, cautious news from the Fed and profit-taking slow the recent rally, but not much.
Market Wrap
06:45:17 PM EDT | 07/28/2009
Dour News, Down Day
By Todd Shriber | Bad news catches up with stocks, but does that mean there is more to come?
Market Wrap
07:15:37 PM EDT | 07/27/2009
Another Up Day On A Mixed Bag Of News
By Todd Shriber | Stocks Inch Higher On Light Volume, Mixed News
Market Wrap
04:20:40 PM EDT | 07/25/2009
Friday the 13th For Nasdaq
By Jim Brown | It may have been July 24th for traders but it was an unlucky Friday the 13th for the Nasdaq. The streak of consecutive daily gains was snapped at 12 after Microsoft and Amazon cursed the Nasdaq with a -7 point loss.
Market Wrap
07:53:21 PM EDT | 07/23/2009
DOW Rings the Bell At the January High
By Keene Little | The DOW has been the laggard index but following in the NASDAQ's and S&P 500's footsteps it now has also exceeded the January high, even if only by 8 points. too bad it wasn't able to close above it.
Market Wrap
08:26:30 PM EDT | 07/22/2009
Nasdaq String Now Eleven
By Jim Brown | The other indexes took a day off to rest but the NASDAQ stretched its string to 11 consecutive days of gains.
Market Wrap
09:23:45 PM EDT | 07/21/2009
Earnings Losing Their Impact
By Jim Brown | A flurry of large companies reported decent earnings today along with multiple Dow components but the positive impact on the market was muted.
Market Wrap
07:53:47 PM EDT | 07/20/2009
Simply En Fuego
By Todd Shriber | Stocks Start The Week Off Strongly, Extending Last Week's Gains
Market Wrap
05:28:30 PM EDT | 07/18/2009
Best Week In Years
By Jim Brown | The +7.44% gain in the Nasdaq represents the strongest week in almost 10 years. The Dow posted its first weekly gain since June 12th.
Market Wrap
07:20:23 PM EDT | 07/16/2009
The Thank-You Card Goes To...
By Todd Shriber | Catalysts abound as market races higher for a fourth straight day
Market Wrap
07:53:17 PM EDT | 07/15/2009
Thank You Intel
By Jim Brown | The Intel earnings and outlook powered the markets with another giant short squeeze and set the stage for a critical resistance test when IBM and GOOG report on Thursday.
Market Wrap
08:35:50 PM EDT | 07/14/2009
Goldman Earnings Overcome Dell Warning
By Jim Brown | Goldman Sachs posted strong earnings before the open and probably set a high water mark that no other financial company will reach.
Market Wrap
07:38:26 PM EDT | 07/13/2009
It's now up to Goldman Sachs not to disappoint
By Keene Little | An upgrade on Goldman Sachs on the day before their earnings announcement was all it took to fire up the banks. And the broader market followed in their footsteps. Now it's all up to GS not to disappoint when they announce prior to the bell on Tuesday.
Market Wrap
05:03:27 PM EDT | 07/11/2009
Calm Before the Storm
By Jim Brown | Surprisingly weak consumer sentiment and a warning from Chevron and the IEA overcame a bullish tech call by Goldman to keep stocks negative for the week.
Market Wrap
07:55:44 PM EDT | 07/09/2009
A Quiet Pre-Opex Thursday
By Keene Little | It's been typical for a long time to see the Thursday prior to opex week as a volatile day with a head-fake move prior to setting the direction for the next week. Today was un-typically quiet but may have been a head fake.
Market Wrap
07:35:48 PM EDT | 07/08/2009
Lower Crude Prices, Disappointing IMF News Put Brakes on Rally
By Judy Alster | After the hopeful spring rally, a disappointing global economic forecast and falling oil prices throw cold water on the rally.
Market Wrap
08:16:47 PM EDT | 07/07/2009
Economic Fears Drag Stocks Lower
By Jim Brown | With Dow Component Alcoa set to kick off the Q2 earnings cycle on Wednesday after the close traders were more focused on the Michael Jackson memorial than buying stocks ahead of earnings.
Market Wrap
04:21:15 PM EDT | 07/06/2009
A Little Something Is Better Than Nothing
By Todd Shriber | Market's Tepid Monday Gains Not Wonderful, But Better Than Last Week's Losses
Market Wrap
11:09:05 AM EDT | 07/04/2009
Payroll Surprise Extends Dow Losses To Three Weeks
By Jim Brown | A sharp increase in job losses shocked investors who were counting on a whisper number much better than analysts expected. Those hoping for an improvement to a loss of only 225,000 jobs were surprised by a much larger loss of 467,000 jobs in June.
Market Wrap
07:33:01 PM EDT | 07/01/2009
With Manufacturing Stabilizing, it Was Not a Bad Day
By Judy Alster | Things seem to have hit true bottom. There are even signs of hope in manufacturing and autos.
Market Wrap
08:45:46 PM EDT | 06/30/2009
Best Quarter Since 1998
By Jim Brown | Despite the increased volatility over the last month the S&P posted the best quarterly gain since Q2-1998. This was led by a 35% gain in financials, +18% for technology and +17% for the consumer discretionary and industrial sectors.
Market Wrap
07:48:42 PM EDT | 06/29/2009
Optimism Restored?
By Todd Shriber | Monday was a nice day for the market, albeit on the light volume typical of a week leading into a holiday. Maybe it was Bernard Madoff's 150-year sentence for his orchestration of the biggest Ponzi scheme in US history that put buyers in a chipper mood.
Market Wrap
02:30:19 PM EDT | 06/27/2009
The Day The Music Died
By Jim Brown | Michael Jackson's unexpected passing on Thursday afternoon provided reporters with something to do as the pre-holiday week wound down to completion. Stock news was sparse but Jackson stories were everywhere.
Market Wrap
07:48:11 PM EDT | 06/25/2009
Post-FOMC Reversal
By Keene Little | The reaction following yesterday's FOMC announcement was negative and the market gave up its rally into the announcement. Today's rally took back that decline and tacked on a few more points, leaving us with some bullish potential ahead of us.
Market Wrap
08:57:29 PM EDT | 06/24/2009
The Fed Stands Pat, the Market Gyrates on Home, Energy News
By Judy Alster | Today's FOMC meeting told us what we already know while putting changes on hold. A volatile market ended with some gains.
Market Wrap
07:49:41 PM EDT | 06/23/2009
Fear of the Fed
By Jim Brown | Worries over how the Fed may change their statement on Wednesday kept traders on the sidelines and the markets in limbo.
Market Wrap
08:22:09 PM EDT | 06/22/2009
Monday, Bloody Monday
By Todd Shriber | This probably was not the start to the week the bulls had in mind after last week's slump. News out of the World Bank that the global economic situation is more dour than originally thought spooked investors, sending the S&P 500 down 3.1% to 893.04.
Market Wrap
Saturday, June 20, 2009 3:08:32 PM
The Witch Is Dead
By Jim Brown | Quadruple witching expired on Friday with hardly any volatility and very little movement in the indexes. It appears that all the major positions were closed when the markets tanked on Monday/Tuesday and that left traders standing on the sidelines as the quadruple witching passed uneventfully.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Market Wrap
A Slow Day in the Market
By Keene H. Little |
Most of the opex action has moved to the week prior to opex, leaving the tail end of opex week a typically slow time in the market. Today was no exception.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Market Wrap
Today's Password Was "Tentative"
By Judy Alster |
The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P500 spent the morning in the dumps but changed their tune slightly around noontime. Eventually investors started tentatively buying again after a pronounced two-day slide, but that faded by day's end, leaving the Dow and the S&P off slightly and the Nasdaq up about 12 points.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Market Wrap
Markets Decline On Economic Fears?
By Jim Brown |
Best Buy (BBY) added to the negative sentiment when it reported a decline in same store sales of 6% while Citigroup told consumers "get used to tight credit." Traders may have felt the green shoots may be fading but I disagree.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Market Wrap
Stalemate Broken
By Robert Ogilvie |
Finally, after seven days of sideways trading the market finally made a directional decision.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Market Wrap
What's the Relevance?
By Linda Piazza |
While U.S. officials attending the G-8 economic summit urged European counterparts to conduct their own "transparent" stress test of European financials, world watchers questioned the relevance of the summit. "Where's India?" they questioned. "And what relevance does a supposedly global economic meeting have without China?"
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Market Wrap
Battling Resistance and Resistance May Be Winning
By Keene H. Little |
For the past two weeks the market has been battling some significant resistance levels. The more resistance (or support) is tested without breaking, the more likely it is to hold.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Market Wrap
Bonds and Beige Book Shared the Stage
By Judy Alster |
The government had to pay a lot to unload $19 billion in debt today, as prices on longer-term U.S. bonds dropped, pushing the benchmark 10-year note yield to 3.94%; for a moment it touched 4%, their highest level since October.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Market Wrap
Waiting On Bonds
By Jim Brown |
The markets traded sideways today as traders await the results from the 10-year and 30-year bond auctions later this week. Rising interest rates are slowing stock gains as traders worry how this will impact the economic recovery.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Market Wrap
Directionally Challenged
By Robert Ogilvie |
The market opened weak on general concern that market participants are beginning to question whether the nearly 40% run up in stocks has become overextended and whether positive economic news has already been priced into stock prices.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Market Wrap
Good News Disappoints
By Jim Brown |
The number of jobs lost in May dropped significantly but an old worry returned to push most indexes back into the red.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Market Wrap
Baked Into the Cake
By Robert Ogilvie |
Much of this week's news seems to be priced in or "baked into the cake." Why else would the markets' continue to advance into such a strong head wind?
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Market Wrap
A Cold Dose Of Reality
By Todd Shriber |
After a nice four-day rally that took the S&P 500 to a seven-month high yesterday and its highest valuation level in eight months, stocks retreated today with weak economic data being the main culprit.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Market Wrap
Green Shoots And Green Candles
By Jim Brown |
The better than expected economic results this morning helped the markets to post back to back gains and stretching the streak of gains to three days.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Market Wrap
Another Manic Monday
By Keene H. Little |
Other than Monday, May 11th, each of the Monday's since May 4th (counting Tuesday, May 26th as "Monday") has seen a good rally. Having those rallies stick has been another issue.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Market Wrap
End of An Era
By Jim Brown |
The stage is set for GM to file bankruptcy sometime this weekend. GM stock fell under $1 on Friday and the lowest level since April 1933. On Monday odds are good it will continue its plunge to zero since current equity holders will be eliminated.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Market Wrap
The 3-week Consolidation Continues
By Keene H. Little |
Since the May 8th high the stock market has gone sideways. Following the March-May rally that could certainly be considered as bullish.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Market Wrap
Market Is Down, But Is It Out?
By Todd Shriber |
Market volatility seems to be back in style as the Dow plunged 173 points on Wednesday after gaining 196 yesterday. That's the third triple-digit day in the last five and two those three have been down days.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Market Wrap
Consumer Confidence Soars
By Jim Brown |
The final confidence snapshot for May jumped unexpectedly by more than 10 points and rescued the market from a down open with yet another major short squeeze.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Market Wrap
Holiday Week Manages Small Gain
By Jim Brown |
Unfortunately, despite the small gains the markets appear to be setting up for another leg down.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Market Wrap
Less Bad is Beginning to Look More Bad
By Keene H. Little |
A lot of hope went into the March-May rally and now some cracks are beginning to appear in the foundation of the Wall of Hope. But there's still hope.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Market Wrap
Fed-Day, Fun-Day
By Todd Shriber |
Wednesday's market action, if you're inclined to call it that, was driven by the fine folks in Washington, D.C. One part Congress, one part Federal Reserve and one part Treasury...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Market Wrap
Monday's Gains Held But Will It Continue?
By Jim Brown |
Volatility continues and as the Fed moves to head off the next big financial problem of commercial mortgages.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Market Wrap
Expectations Were Met
By Robert Ogilvie |
My expectations were met when I opened up my trading platform last night to see how the futures were trading in the Asian session.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Market Wrap
Green Shoots Turning Brown?
By Jim Brown |
The green shoots of economic improvement are wilting for lack of nourishment and investors are beginning to question if those shoots were desirable growths or just a surge of spring weeds.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Market Wrap
March-May Rally on Life Support but Still Holding
By Keene H. Little |
Today's bounce kept the possibility of a continuation of the rally alive. Support held yesterday and it becomes even more important for the bulls to hold now.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Market Wrap
Pullback: A Hiccup Or
Start Of A Broader Trend?
By Todd Shriber |
Glory days. Channeling the Bruce Springsteen anthem, many investors are probably thinking about the market's glory days, which we are not all that far removed from, after the cold dish served by the market through the first three days of this week.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Market Wrap
Bears Losing Their Grip
By Jim Brown |
Recent IDC data tanked the techs this morning but the bulls were eager for a decent dip to buy.
May, April 11, 2009
Market Wrap
Buyer Beware
By Robert Ogilvie |
Was today just a small break from the exhaustive upward move over the last two months or is it the beginning of a new down trend?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Market Wrap
Prozac Market
By Jim Brown |
The markets roared off to new multi-week highs on news the banks were not as bad off as many expected. The markets appeared to have taken liberal amounts of Prozac and were in "don't worry, be happy" mode.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Market Wrap
A Day of Profit Taking
By Keene H. Little |
There was nothing specific that spooked traders into taking profits today and after this morning's gap up and run higher the day ended as a potentially bearish key reversal day. In front of opex this could be significant.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Market Wrap
Raging Bull, Hidden Bear
By Todd Shriber |
Ho hum. More disappointing earnings. More banks needing capital. Sounds like bad news and a recipe for a bad day in the markets. Well, you may not have met this market.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Market Wrap
Open Season For Hunting Bears
By Jim Brown |
The bears have lost their bite and buyers are chasing them at every turn. I would not count them out completely but it is definitely open season for bear hunting.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Market Wrap
Money Rushing In
By Robert Ogilvie |
Following the money trail would suggest that investors are re-entering the market in multiple asset classes.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Market Wrap
Swine Flu, Stress Tests And More!
By Todd Shriber |
It was another action-packed week for the markets. Trying to cram all the news into a confined space is a lot like listing all the ingredients on the front of a cereal box and telling people there's also a prize inside.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Market Wrap
SPX 888 Gets the Square
By Keene H. Little |
In the past I've reviewed a very interesting technical analysis tool called the Gann Square of Nine chart. It is uncanny how effective it can be in pointing out important price levels. It did it again today.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Market Wrap
Broader Markets Advance Nicely on Seemingly Negative News
By Robert Ogilvie |
There appears to be a lot of capital being put to work despite the fundamental factors
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Market Wrap
Just Passing Time
By Jim Brown |
The markets remain locked in a narrow range while trader sentiment is slowly inoculated against the swine flu and we await the potential results of the financial stress test.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Market Wrap
Health Care Scare
By Robert Ogilvie |
Another round of unknowns have come into the market. But this time it is not just the financials
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Market Wrap
Traders Stressing Over the Test
By Jim Brown |
It was a rocky week for the markets with the Dow making two complete tests of support at 7800 as traders worried how the financial stress test would change the banking sector.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Market Wrap
Topping Process
By Keene H. Little |
Unlike reversals off bottoms, which are often v-shaped, a top is usually a laborious affair and a rounding top is very common. It would appear so far that that's what we're getting.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Market Wrap
Corporate Earnings Causing Volatility
By Robert Ogilvie |
Most of the market moves are earnings related
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Market Wrap
Volatility Dip
By Jim Brown |
After Monday's -289 drop and today's +127 point gain it would appear that traders don't know how to react to the flurry of conflicting earnings reports. The dip on the BAC credit quality was bought but not in the kind of volume needed to convince the bears.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Market Wrap
Keeping it Simple
By Robert Ogilvie |
A sharp decline in the markets was wide spread and possibly due to fears that many of the large stocks reporting in the next day or so will disappoint
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Market Wrap
Going and Going and Going
By Jim Brown |
The markets are doing their impression of the Energizer Bunny as they stretched their rally gains to six weeks. Bulls are hesitant and bears are in denial but the result is still a higher market.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Market Wrap
Techs Lead the Way Higher
By Keene H. Little |
Bullish enthusiasm is alive and well as evidenced by the stronger rally in tech stocks and small caps. The VIX is signaling little fear as the market reaches important resistance levels.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Market Wrap
Buying into the Close Ahead of the Earnings News
By Robert Ogilvie |
The last fifteen minutes seems to be the deciding factor for which way the markets are going to close that day
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Market Wrap
Earnings Surprises
By Jim Brown |
Now that the Q1 earnings cycle has begun in earnest the number of surprises are growing and many are unpleasant. Traders hoping for bank like earnings elsewhere are being disappointed.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Market Wrap
Monday Deals help with the Sector Rotation
By Robert Ogilvie |
Sector rotation finds the financial sector no longer the weak link in the market, for now.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Market Wrap
Full Moon Brings Out the Howling Bulls
By Keene H. Little |
A full moon is often associated with mood swings. It looks like this time around it got the bulls howling. But beware the werewolf (bear) who lurks in the shadows of the credit market.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Market Wrap
No Thursday Night Newsletter
By Jim Brown |
Because the market is closed tomorrow for Good Friday there is no newsletter tonight. This week Thursday is actually Friday and Thursday's bullish market will be covered in the weekend newsletter, which is published on Saturday
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Market Wrap
Thin Trading Easily Moves the Markets Up and Down and Up
By Robert Ogilvie |
Today was a volatile session that resulted in some short covering as a defensive more before the SEC changes the uptick rules.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Market Wrap
Don't Worry, Be Happy
By Jim Brown |
Stocks were all dressed up ahead of earnings but investors stopped off at the local watering hole for a drink before picking up their dates. Pre-earnings jitters settled in like a nervous teen heading to his prom.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Market Wrap
Late day strength in markets does't translate to internals
By Robert Ogilvie |
The markets were all down slightly following the late day push up in most likely a few major names.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Market Wrap
Best Four Weeks In 70 Years
By Jim Brown |
Over the last four weeks the S&P is up +23% and the Nasdaq +24%. Bears are in denial and the bad news bulls are in control
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Market Wrap
The Land of Make Believe
By Keene H. Little |
The excuse du jour for today's rally was the FASB ruling for the banks. But if it was so good for banks why didn't they participate as much?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Market Wrap
Economic Reports Spur Positive Sentiment
By Robert Ogilvie |
Tonight's market wrap encompasses trading lessons and concepts while discussing the day's events
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Market Wrap
Dip Buying Alive and Well
By Jim Brown |
Smarting from the profit taking on Monday, mutual funds again bought the dip and pushed the indexes back into the green to end the quarter with strong gains but sellers showed up again at the close.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Market Wrap
A Declining Day Doesn't Translate into a Distribution Day
By Robert Ogilvie |
One week we pop and the next one we drop. Merger Monday took a week off.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Market Wrap
Big Drop, No Damage
By Jim Brown |
The -148 point Dow drop on Friday may have been a triple digit decline but it was only a blip in the overall picture. After rebounding +1461 points Friday's decline was not even decent profit taking
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Market Wrap
Nasdaq Wipes Out Year's Loss
By Keene H. Little |
The Nasdaq had closed at 1577 on December 31, 2008 and today it closed at its high at 1587 thereby getting into the green for the year.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Market Wrap
Positive Bias but Volatility is the Key
By Robert Ogilvie |
Volatility still runs rampant in the markets. Even though it closed up doesn't mean it stays up.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Market Wrap
Good News Continues
By Jim Brown |
The combined testimony of Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke provided several bright spots for the markets because lawmakers were unable to beat them up as they had in the past. The market rallied on the feisty rebuttals and the perception the worst is over.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Market Wrap
WOW! is the Best Way to Explain Today
By Robert Ogilvie |
The markets all rallied today following positive a housing report and the Treasuries new plan.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Market Wrap
Anger Grows Over Bonus Tax
By Jim Brown |
The rapid attempt by lawmakers to impose a 90% tax on the AIG bonuses caused a bit of concern on Wall Street since nearly all the major financial firms have been tainted by TARP money and will be governed by the new tax rules if it becomes law.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Market Wrap
The Starter Pistol Fired for the Race to Devaluation
By Keene H. Little |
On Wednesday the Fed started the race towards devaluation of currencies worldwide. With the Fed's efforts to buy Treasuries they single-handedly made the boldest protectionist move to date. The inflationists are now all in a dither.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Market Wrap
FOMC Buys the Market
By Robert Ogilvie |
If the Fed were smart, they would front run their policy announcements by buying S&P futures
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Market Wrap
Wearing of the Green
By Jim Brown |
It was a happy St Patrick's Day with investors wearing green in the form of another rally to new two-week highs across all the indexes.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Market Wrap
Selling into Resistance Works!
By Robert Ogilvie |
Today was a slight give back following four advancing days
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Market Wrap
Check your Expiration Date
By Jim Brown |
The short covering spike that started on Tuesday found some legs and twice overcame a halfhearted attempt by sellers to blunt the rising bullish sentiment. The result was a 10% rally and the best week in months.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Market Wrap
Bulls Follow Through
By Keene H. Little |
After Tuesday's strong rally and Wednesday's consolidation we got a nice follow-through day today. It's the best 3-day performance this stock market has seen Santa dropped in.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Market Wrap
Two In A Row
By Jim Brown |
JP Morgan made it two in a row when CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC that JP Morgan Chase was also profitable in January and February. The markets were drifting deeper into negative territory when the comment reversed the trend and pushed the indexes back into the green.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Market Wrap
Finally Some Good News
By Jim Brown |
Citibank, Ben Bernanke and Barney Frank all made comments that gave the markets a reason to rally today. The Dow gained +5.8%, S&P 6.3% and Nasdaq 7%. Is it a real rally or just a monster short squeeze?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Market Wrap
Today's Uncertainty Follows Friday's Uncertainty
By Robert Ogilvie |
The media has been working hard to spin good news for once. Perhaps they have capitulated from doom and gloom to cautiously optimistic.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Market Wrap
Shorts Scramble As Week Ends
By Jim Brown |
Shorts took profits at the close on Friday rather than leave themselves exposed to possible news events over the weekend. The Dow rebounded +165 points from the lows to limp back into positive territory.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Market Wrap
The Bulls Have Gone on Strike
By Keene H. Little |
The selling overwhelmed the buying (again), and the point count shows a steep decline today, but the selling is showing waning momentum. We just might be near a turn.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Market Wrap
Was That A Bottom?
By Jim Brown |
After a dismal bout of bearishness could it be that we just saw a bottom form? Upticks in China for the third month and rumors of a new stimulus program helped to power a little short covering on Wednesday.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Market Wrap
Market Timer In Chief
By Jim Brown |
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the Market Timer in Chief all spoke before the cameras today and left the markets as confused as before they spoke.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Market Wrap
Markets Extend their Decline Near 1995 Support Levels
By Robert Ogilvie |
Once again, we are following the money flow in order to look where opportunities lie.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Market Wrap
Citigroup, GE, GDP
By Jim Brown |
It is a miracle the markets did not lose more ground than they did after Citigroup diluted existing shareholders to 26%, GE cut their dividend by 68% and the GDP for Q4 posted the strongest drop since 1982.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Market Wrap
Volume Leads the Way
By Keene H. Little |
When you look for confirmation of a move you like to see volume supporting the direction. Unfortunately the market is still showing higher volume for the declines than for the rallies.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Market Wrap
Buyers Vanish Near The Close
By Jeff Bailey |
US stocks finished mixed-to-lower Wednesday with the broader S&P 500 (SPX.X) giving back a modest gain late in the session ...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Market Wrap
Love Potion Number Nine
By Jim Brown |
Thank you Ben Bernanke. During Bernanke's semiannual testimony to lawmakers today he downplayed the potential for nationalizing the banks. After saying the government would rather retain private ownership the financial sector exploded higher.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Market Wrap
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... of the Market
By Robert Ogilvie |
It is a very tough environment right now to trade. The markets are so oversold that it is difficult to short from here in fears that some news release from the Fed will spur a rally. The other side of it is that almost everyone is hoping that will happen. I learned early that there are three ways to lose money in the market; hope, fear and greed.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Market Wrap
Nationalization A Necessary Step?
By Jim Brown |
Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told Bloomberg News that nationalization of major banks could be a necessary step at least for a short time. That comment sent the major banks down -30% and the Dow to the lowest close in six years.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Market Wrap
DOW Closes at Lowest Level since October 2002
By Keene H. Little |
The headlines released after today's close highlighted the fact that the DOW closed today below 7500 which makes it the lowest close since October 2002. How's that for a trip around the block in 6-1/2 years?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Market Wrap
Precious Metals Respond To Stimulus
By Jeff Bailey |
Stocks finished mixed to lower after Tuesday's sharp declines, with regional banks as depicted by the S&P Banks Index (BIX.X) 64.43 -1.91% yet to find any type of prolonged stimulus ...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Market Wrap
November Retest In Progress
By Jim Brown |
The markets reacted to negative economic news from around the world with the Dow falling to 7553 and only one point away from the November closing low. Even the signing of the spending bill could not keep the markets off their lows.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Market Wrap
Much Ado About Nothing
By Jim Brown |
President Obama rescued the market from an early loss on Friday when he said he would announce a foreclosure prevention plan next Wednesday. The Dow was down -85 points and headed lower when the news broke. After a brief rally back into positive territory it closed back at that -85 level.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Market Wrap
Fear Factor
By Keene H. Little |
We'll take a look at the volatility indexes today to see what the message from the market may be telling us here.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Market Wrap
Still In Limbo
By Jeff Bailey |
The major averages finished mixed-to-higher Wednesday in quiet trade as investor frustration with the Treasury's lack of details on how it plans to ease the lingering credit crisis continues.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Market Wrap
Market Stress Test
By Jim Brown |
The markets did not like the Geithner plan with a unified stress test for banks and the lack of specific details in the plan. The market responded with a stress test of its own that sent investors into cardiac arrest.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Market Wrap
While we Wait
By Robert Ogilvie |
Another uneventful day with a lot of news pending.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Market Wrap
Irrational Exuberance Redux
By Jim Brown |
Dozens of rumors about the impending bank plan from Treasury Secretary Geithner along with details leaked about the Term Asset-backed Loan Facility (TALF) and the impending vote on the stimulus bill all combined to send expectations to an irrational level on Friday.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Market Wrap
Bonds Are Not Cooperating with the Fed (Yet)
By Keene H. Little |
Greenspan was fond of saying the bond market is a conundrum--it usually did not do what he wanted. Today we have a bond market that's not "listening" to Bernanke either.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Market Wrap
Bank of America Hits 52-week Low
By Jeff Bailey |
Stocks opened higher at Wednesday's open, but another new low for Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) $4.70 -11.32% soured bullish sentiment ...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Market Wrap
Short Squeeze #6
By Jim Brown |
The markets rallied on Tuesday in the face of bad news but I seriously doubt this was anything other than the sixth bear market short squeeze of 2009. Hopefully I am proved wrong before the week is out.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Market Wrap
Technology is having a Stealth Rally!
By Robert Ogilvie |
Today was a relatively slow day lacking any conviction from the bounce from the early morning lows.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Market Wrap
Not What You Expected?
By Jim Brown |
Only two weeks after the inaugural honeymoon began the dissention and unrealized expectations have begun. The Obama bloom has quickly faded and the harsh reality of politics appeared and Wall Street was not happy with what they saw.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Market Wrap
Treasury's Version of Good Cop, Bad Cop
By Keene H. Little |
After Wednesday's strong rally, based on hopes the "bad bank" idea would solve the financial crisis, Thursday dashed those hopes and the slippery slope of hope continues.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Market Wrap
An InTOXICating DAY!
By Jeff Bailey |
The rally that began just after yesterday's close carried forward as market participants dealt with another possible "switch" in Treasury policy...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Market Wrap
Bad News, Good Market
By Jim Brown |
A record low in Consumer Confidence rattled the markets at the open but the impact was only temporary. Better than expected earnings reports turned the market around and for the second consecutive day the markets closed higher.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Market Wrap
Follow the Money
By Robert Ogilvie |
The path to a good trade is found by following where the money was and may be heading.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Market Wrap
That Was Fun
By Jim Brown |
The markets displayed a complete lack of direction with a week of alternating moves reminiscent of trading in November. Daily triple digit reversals pushed the VIX back to a high of 57 on volume of more than 10 billion shares per day.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Market Wrap
Mr. Softee Lands a Hard Blow
By Keene H. Little |
As if this morning's economic reports weren't enough, Microsoft announced earnings in the morning instead of after the bell and the market was not happy with their report. The market spent the rest of the day trying to get up off the mat.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Market Wrap
What's BIG and BLUE and GREEN All Over?
By Jeff Bailey |
"Here I come to save the day ... "
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Market Wrap
Honeymoon Is Over
By Jim Brown |
After months of buildup and euphoric levels of anticipation president elect Obama became President Obama and that oath of office signaled the end of the honeymoon and the rocky start of four years of service to the American people. Unfortunately this is where the rubber meets the road.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Market Wrap
Financial Faux Pas
By James Brown |
It was a newsworthy Friday for January's option expiration weekend. Headlines were flying fast and furious. Stocks couldn't make up their mind.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Market Wrap
Late Opex Reversal
By Keene H. Little |
For the past couple of years we've seen the Thursday prior to opex as a head-fake day with a reversal often catching traders leaning the wrong way. It looks like the reversal day was a week late this time.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Market Wrap
A Look at 2009 and Beyond
By Keene H. Little |
Last Thursday I looked at what 2009 could bring us (an expected rally after a new low) and before I put my crystal ball away I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to look beyond 2009 as well.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Market Wrap
Bulls Need Financials To Rally. Now!
By Jeff Bailey |
Stocks started the week out on a negative note with energy and financials helping to drag the broader S&P 500 (SPX.X) lower by 20-points, or -2.25% ...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Market Wrap
Better Than Expectations
By Jim Brown |
The December jobs report was ugly but not as ugly as most people expected. The whisper numbers of 600K to 700K were over exaggerated but the actual tone of the report still depressed the market.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Market Wrap
Choppy Recovery Off the Lows
By Keene H. Little |
Two days in a row with a gap down opening sets a bearish tone to the market. But the bulls were able to recover and get the market back up into the green. Now can they hold it?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Market Wrap
Bulls Pull In Their Horns
By Jeff Bailey |
The major averages gave back a portion of their Santa Clause rally today with Alcoa (NYSE:AA) $10.89 -10.14% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) $14.44 -6.05% issuing caution ...
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Market Wrap
Still Not A Believer
By Jim Brown |
The markets struggled again on Tuesday to find traction above current resistance. The Nasdaq and Russell outperformed while the Dow and S&P eked out only minor gains.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Market Wrap
A Stealth Rally!?
By Robert Ogilvie |
The internals represented a nice day in the market today with a 2 to 1 Advance/Decline line and bonds selling.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Market Wrap
No Complaints!
By Jim Brown |
I was expecting a much different market once we moved into 2009 but I definitely have no complaints about Friday's results. An unexpected rally is the best kind because it catches the most bears unprepared and racing to cover shorts.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Market Wrap
Baby Oil
By Jeff Bailey |
Stocks finished a bearish year on a bullish note with a better than forecasted weekly jobless claims report helping to bolster some technical buying ...
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