Over the past two decades, raising the US debt ceiling to borrow the funds necessary to pay for programs Congress has already approved and appropriated has become more politicized. The brinkmanship threatens the debt rating of the US Government and investors have taken notice. Two days ago, Fitch ratings placed US Government debt on negative Read More
A Breadth of Air Reprise
In September of 2020, I wrote a blog called “A Breadth of Air” observing the deteriorating market breadth in the uptrend of the overall stock market. The market breadth further eroded into 2021 setting the stage for a bear market in 2022. Unusually, here in 2023 we are revisiting a similar, yet arguably worse, scenario. Read More
From the Trading Desk: Big Winners, Small Losers
In my previous post, we discussed the Federal Reserve being under pressure to pause raising interest rates in March after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB) and Signature Bank (SBNY) had investors questioning the health of the banking sector. Despite the crisis, the Fed raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.75%-5% pushing borrowing Read More
From the Trading Desk: Peeling Off the Interest Rate Band-Aid
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell began his Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress on March 7th by acknowledging the hardship and impact high inflation has on the U.S. economy. He recognized the importance of price stability, suggesting without it, a sustained period of labor market conditions that would benefit all cannot be achieved. He continued by Read More
A Disciplined Approach to Getting Back in The Market
Stock markets are off to a strong start in 2023 following a dismal performance in 2022. Notwithstanding sharply higher interest rates and fears of a forthcoming recession, the bulls, at least for now, are in control. There are several arguments to be made for being bullish or bearish in this environment. The bullish argument relies Read More