Last week, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s commitment to reducing inflation no matter the short-term cost to the economy. More aggressive interest rake hikes now appear to be on the table and unsurprisingly stocks sold off sharply in response. The S&P 500 Index erased August’s gains and finished the month down Read More
A Bear Market Rally or a New Bull Market In Stocks?
Stock markets rallied sharply in July and have continued to climb in August in response to the cooling of record levels of inflation. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to ease back the frequency and magnitude of interest rate hikes in response, an apparent bullish case for stocks. According to Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Read More
From the Trading Desk: A Recession in All but a Name
This month’s CPI reading of 9.1% marked a 40-year high, despite the Fed’s efforts to tame inflation. GDP numbers for Q2 were published and the US economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter. GDP US Chained 2012 Dollars QoQ SAAR (GDP CQOQ Index) 12-months Despite the general rule to identify a recession, the fall of Read More
From the Trading Desk: Six Months in Review
We are now halfway through 2022 and it has been such a wild start of the year. The S&P 500 Index had its worst half a year since 1970 with losses of over 20%, the NASDAQ Composite fell more than 29% and the Bitcoin Reference Rate was down over 60%. This environment is nothing like Read More
Spotting a Bear Market?
The bear market in stocks in 2022 began like most others in history: with a deterioration in the number of companies participating in the market uptrend. Initially weakness is seen in the smaller more speculative stocks and over time it migrates into the large capitalization companies. In the end, no stock is spared as selling Read More