When I was in college there was a popular t-shirt that read: “Dear Aunt Em, Hate you, hate Kansas, taking the dog. Love, Dorothy.” The obvious reference to Wizard of Oz aside, it captured the sense of adventure people feel as they leave boring, ho-hum lives in rural or suburban areas to seek their fame and fortune….
Theories abound in the stock market world. Marketwatch has one story based on bearish sentiment of individual investors saying the market will surely soar to new heights. Just below that story they have one based on the Dow Theory that warns of a possible impending crash. I don’t give too much credence to individual investor…
This morning we got the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The diffusion index for General Business Conditions at 3.1 (3.09 to two decimals) shows an increase from last month’s -1.2, which signals a return to modest improvement in activity. The Investing.com forecast was for a reading of 5.0. The Empire State Manufacturing Index rates the relative level of…
The case for a second-quarter revival in the US economy took another blow in today’s April report on industrial production. Output slumped 0.3% last month, marking the fifth-straight decline for the monthly comparison, the Federal Reserve reports. The annual pace continues to slide as well, with the year-over-year change dipping to 1.9% for the 12 months through…
Growth stocks can be some of the most exciting picks in the market, as these high-flyers can captivate investors’ attention, and produce big gains as well. However, these can also lead on the downside when the growth story is over, so it is important to find companies which are still seeing strong growth prospects in…
On the heels of the weakest print since May 2009 in March, April Industrial Production printed -0.3% (against expectations of a bounce to -0.03% from -0.64% – which was revised higher). This is the 5th monthly drop in a row – the longest streak since the Great Recession. This is the 2nd weakest YoY print, at…
Today USD is bouncing to test the breakdown from the support at 94 (+/-). I am neutral now on USD for the short-term and expect the down channel to eventually find support, per one of the levels noted on the monthly chart yesterday. The down channel is not as bearish as an up channel would be. An…
Just the facts….Commodities have had a rough few years! Below takes a look a the Thompson Reuters Commodities index from 1984 to current, with Commodity Sentiment from Sentiment Trader.com applied. Click on picture to enlarge The decline over the past 4-years has taken this commodity index down to a support line that has been influential to this index…
Despite the fact that earnings have not improved in Q1, companies are still flooded with cash. They use that money to buy back their own stock. Large corporations approved 141 billion dollars in buybacks in the month of April: a record. It was the largest amount announced in a single month, namely, according to money…
You know pot must be legal these days. How else do you explain these non-stop, non-pause moves up in the market on no particular volume? Can everything really be that awesome and what, exactly is it that is awesome in the first place? Yesterday we saw Avon (AVP) jump 20% after a FAKE takeover rumor on an…
