Once again, August in Europe means little to report from there. This is not to say that nothing has happened, since Greek premier Antonis Samaras has been travelling around the continent’s capitals with begging bowl in hand, but we shall not know his degree of success for a while. Probably not a very long while,…
Details
It used to be those late summer days of trading were so slow that it felt like the market was in a food coma following that big Thanksgiving meal. The early summer rallies would give way to lethargic action because not only are there no holidays in August here in the US but political wranglings…
Details
Harken back about a month ago, when the ECB Chairman Mario Draghi came out some bold comments about future action, including ‘We will not let the Euro fail’, and ‘We will do whatever possible to fix the problem – believe me, it will be enough’. I take this man at his word. Did Draghi have…
Details
Are you listening to the markets or is some pundit/expert pounding it in your head what the next move should be? Ask yourself – what makes them smarter than you? Experience? Wealth? Influence? I find it very hard to trust others’ judgment when there are blanket statements being made about where the next move will…
Details
An athlete trains constantly to get better, practices hard and gives every ounce of effort to be successful. They are a rare breed, those with God-given talent who are able to excel at just the right time. We recently were treated to some amazing performances in the Olympics, some by well-known personalities and many by…
Details
A great explanation is set forth here in this great article by Ryan Detrick of Schaeffer’s Investment Research. Here he tells of some valid reasons for low absolute volume, of which there are good arguments. We just don’t see the big numbers as we used to see for various reasons. This is an excellent summary…
Details
Greece has gone quiet – it is August after all, when by tradition nothing much happens in Europe, even in nations whose finances will supposedly not survive to see September. We don’t have much to say about this, but suspect it will turn out that there is a bit of a story here. It looks…
Details
If there is anything hotter than the weather across the country then let me know. The sweltering heat here on the west coast, with temperatures easily passing triple digits make us all lethargic, move slowly and wanting to sit it out. Kinda what we are seeing in markets, right? Volatility has been crushed, volume is…
Details
We thought we might struggle even to devote our normal opening paragraph to the ongoing train wreck in the eurozone, but have been bailed out by some weekend news from Athens. It appears that the Troika ( consisting of the EU, the ECB and the IMF, in case you have somehow lost track ) has…
Details
This past market week was a microcosm of what we have been experiencing for the better part of two years. The ups and downs caused be nauseating noise and news, trading/program snafus and psychological shakeouts along the spectrum of fear and greed. There was enough action in these last two weeks to fill the coffers…
Details