The AI Gold Rush
I was asked recently to sum up the action in the stock market as succinctly as possible. As long-time readers are likely aware, brevity is not exactly my strong suit. But after giving it some thought, I did manage to come up with a three-word summary, which also doubles as the title of this week’s […]
While We Wait on the Fed
Make no mistake about it; this week’s Fed meeting is the primary focal point for market participants. And from my seat, the outcome and/or the “tone” of Jay Powell’s press conference is likely to become the driver of the next near-term trend in both the stock and bond markets. While I could spend my pixels […]
Indicators Suggest New Bull May Be Underway
The stock market appears to have spent the vast majority of the last week or so doing, well, a lot of nothing. In short, after the S&P 500 moved to the high end of the recent trading range, which, as our heroes in horns tell us, is certainly an encouraging sign, traders decided to hit […]
The Debate is On
On various calls with institutional clients over the past couple of weeks, I have summarized the current state of the market as an ongoing debate between the bulls and bears – playing out daily. I opined that the macro situation boils down to a series of questions. For example: Will the economy experience a hard […]
What’s It Gonna Be?
With the macro backdrop remaining fairly fluid these days, it appears that market players are in search of the appropriate levels – for stocks, bonds, fed funds futures, gold, and just about anything else that might be impacted by a burgeoning crisis. A week ago, traders were positioning for just that – a crisis in […]
The Big Question
The question of the day is simple. Are investors dealing with another banking crisis, which poses what is called “systemic” risk (I.E. Risk that threatens the entire banking system) or what my colleague Jeff Pietsch, CFA terms “idiosyncratic” risk – meaning risks that are specific to each entity involved. To be sure, there are some […]
The Banks Did What?
And just like that, the game has changed. Almost completely. Gone is all the fretting about inflation, the Fed’s final few rate hikes, and the corresponding impacts on the economy and earnings. Instead, investors of all shapes and sizes find themselves faced with a banking crisis. To be sure, investors have seen this movie before. […]
The Bostic Boost
Until Thursday afternoon, the path of least resistance for both stock and bond prices appeared to be down. Given the macro narrative, this actually made some sense. After all, with February’s inflation and economic data coming in hotter/better than expected and the Fed pledging to remain “data dependent,” markets had been busy pricing in the […]
Color Me Cautiously Optimistic
Here we go again. Just when you thought positive economic news was a good thing – because strong data support the soft landing (or better) narrative – traders turned the game on its head. Again. Stocks experienced their worst day of the year yesterday on the back of news that S&P Global’s Flash Services PMI […]
All About Inflation And the Lines in the Sand
Good morning and Happy Monday. It is safe to say that most investors are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the monthly update to the Consumer Price Index. Scheduled to be released tomorrow morning, the CPI will provide members of both teams a glimpse into the state of inflation. Although the month-over-month headline number is expected […]