It’s only too obvious, isn’t it? The markets are showing some cracks in the armor as the end of QE2 is upon us. Should be no surprise really. In 2010 when the first round easy money ended the indices were hammered mercilessly (last summer) until the deflationary forces proved too difficult to overcome. It was…
Details
Wednesday puts us on the other half of the Fed meeting, where at high noon Ben Bernanke and friends will announce their policy statement, then two hours later the Chairman will have a press conference and take questions from the media. I don’t expect much change but perhaps some acknowledgement of a sluggish economy and…
Details
What fascinates me lately is the amount of opinions out there how issues should be solved. Some are valid solutions, yet most of these people should not lose their day jobs! Whether we’re talking the eurozone, our Fed or politics, the opinions vary on what to do. The markets have started to reflect the many…
Details
As a chart reader I am constantly looking for areas where markets will turn around, noted support and resistance zones. These demarcations on a chart help me to identify where much of the volume lies at certain prices and gives me a great idea of when to enter or exit a position. However, I qualify…
Details
Quite a bit of uncertainty still even with the amazingly one-sided action for the month of June. With seven days down of the first eight trading days, this start is the worst markets have seen since Oct 2008. It was just after that drubbing markets went into a tailspin and did not finish dropping until…
Details
Short Week Was Long on Surprises Are we in the midst of an apathetic market with weakening economic data or something far worse? The jobs report was downright ugly, as it appears the sellers on Wednesday got it right from handicapping the ADP report. Perhaps we are looking at a bit of a soft patch…
DetailsThe first of the month has normally been a positive market day. In fact, only ONCE in the past year did we have a negative day – the last one in March of this year. Today’s action was nasty and particularly troublesome after yesterday’s very strong performance. Tuesday had all the characteristics – positive volume,…
Details
With a turn of the calendar the markets were smacked down hard – hopefully not an indication of things to come. We don’t officially start summer until June 21 but the heat was turned up on the bulls after some surprisingly weak economic data for a second straight day. On Tuesday following the long weekend…
Details
On this very solemn day we call Memorial Day, we stand and remember those who paid the ultimate price to protect our freedom and liberty. We bow our heads and say ‘THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE’ – it’s hard for me to stop saying my thank you’s. We honor and celebrate the men and women…
Details
As the first half of 2011 is quickly coming to a close there is a sense of uncertainty many traders and investors are trying to decipher. How healthy is the economy? Will troubles from Europe and Asia spill over into our arena? What about inflation and higher commodity prices, especially oil? Political concerns here and…
Details