Fed ‘Downgrade’ Sends Stocks To Largest Quarterly Comeback…Ever
It’s easy… But, before we start, some context for just how different it is this time… if The Dow is able to hold this gain through the end of the quarter, it will be the largest quarterly comeback in the history of stocks… And all it took was the four largest central banks in the world […]
Does It Matter If Oil Prices Have Already Traded In The Same Pattern Just One Year Offset?
From June 2014 until late January 2015, oil prices (WTI) fell about 60%. From June 2015 until late January 2016, oil prices (WTI) fell about 60%. The exact track each annual trading history took to achieve those results is different (2014-15 much more straight ahead and persistent; 2015-16 jagged and irregular), but you can’t deny […]
Dangling From The Tree
I’m going to do a longer post later, but I wanted to mention Apple. On a day in which markets vomited up to the highest levels of the entire year, Apple (AAPL) actually managed to lose some value. I think this is quite telling since, as I’ve said repeatedly here in the hallowed hallways of Slope, Apple […]
Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Insignificantly Worsens. Longest Streak Of Claims Under 300,000 Since 1973
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims The market expectations (from Bloomberg) were 265,000 to 279,000 (consensus 270,000), and the Department of Labor reported 265,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 267,250 (reported last week as 267,500) […]
Valeant Hit My $35 Price Target; Now What?
Tuesday the Valeant VRX released preliminary unaudited Q4 financial results and it did not go well. I perused the results, saw that the 2016 revenue forecast was shy of previous estimates and assumed the stock would rise 10% as usual. By mid-morning my brokerage account had gone haywire; VRX had free fallen 45% and my […]
Big Biotech ETF Faces Key Technical Test
Those who have followed our blog for some time now know that we are big proponents of technical analysis in reading the trends of the market. This type of examination can also be applied when we are analyzing individual sectors or industries that have diverged from the conventional path of the market. Last year’s big diverging […]
Guess’ Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Beat
Apparel retailer Guess’, Inc. (GES – Analyst Report) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 results, wherein earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while revenues beat the same. Guess’ reported earnings of 57 cents per share, which declined 9.52% from the prior-year figure of 63 cents due to top-line weakness and currency headwinds. Currency impacted earnings by 19 cents. Earnings also missed the […]
S&P 500 Snapshot: A Modest Patrick’s Day Gain
Our benchmark S&P 500 opened in the shallow red and sold off to its -0.25% intraday low about 30 minutes later. It then rose steadily to its 0.94% afternoon high before some late volatility trimmed the St. Patrick’s Day gain to a more modest 0.66%. The index is down a mere 0.16% year-to-date. Its elderly […]
Dotty Confusi-Nomics And The Dollar
Quotable “There are designations, like ‘economist,’ ‘prostitute,’ or ‘consultant,’ for which additional characterization doesn’t add information.” –Nassim Taleb Commentary & Analysis Dotty confusi-nomics and the dollar. I watched America’s lead economist—Fed Chairman Janet Yellen—talking about the economy yesterday; and after she was done I was more confused than when she started—but was happy with the […]
