The Interwebs were lit up with talk yesterday regarding the new blog of former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, currently at the Brookings Institute. Mr. Bernanke wrote his first blog about interest rates, clearly defending the role of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) during his tenure. Make no mistake, Bernanke and his colleagues were going…
DetailsMany of us traders are trained to look for tops and bottoms and game the markets accordingly. Though it makes sense on the surface, these are not smart options trading strategies. Playing “tops and bottoms” is generally a loser’s game (more on this below); following through after seeing a top or bottom take place can…
DetailsToday I’d like to take a look at the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) chart to see if I can glean any insight into the current price action. When I view a chart, I like to look for patterns. After the V-shaped bottom was put in in December, we went into a multimonth period of consolidation…
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Before bringing my guest Mike Khouw into the conversation during today’s webinar, I talked about the recent volatile action. Yes, it’s been a roller coaster ride, but that’s really not much of a surprise this year. Given the amount of selling Wednesday, it stood to reason we might get some follow-on selling, and we did.…
DetailsFollowing last week’s Fed meeting, we are now being bombarded with guessing around when the first of several rate hikes will occur, along with predictions for the length of that cycle. I do not doubt that the guessing will be persistent or that we’ll have a long, drawn-out cycle to get rates back to normal.…
DetailsPfizer (PFE) is one of the biggest pharmaceutical names in the world, boasting a market cap of more than $214 billion. After absorbing some very big acquisitions over the years, Pfizer became a stodgy old company whose returns barely kept pace with the market. But perhaps those days are behind Pfizer, and the excitement over…
DetailsRandom movements in the stock market are very tough to explain, but once we understand the role that sentiment plays, these moves make sense. Remember, stocks move along a spectrum marked by fear and greed, and a chart can clearly show these emotions. Plug in several sentiment-related indicators, and you’ll be able to read the…
DetailsBuying insurance is one of those “necessary evils” that we all dread shelling out for but are super thankful we have it when we need it. If you break a leg, get in a car accident, or come home to find your computer and jewelry gone, you practically want to hug your insurance policy. Of…
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March has been a rough month for traders and investors, so during today’s webinar, I talked about the very different trends we have started to see develop. With some markets up and others down this is truly a stock picker’s environment, and given the continued accommodation per the Fed, stocks are still the place to…
DetailsOne group that has been struggling lately is the semiconductor sector. Led by Intel, this group has often led bull and bear moves within the tech-heavy Nasdaq and even for the SPX 500. Last week was a tough one for Intel – analysts slashed earnings estimates and Intel warned that they will miss their numbers…
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