Stocks Didn’t Like Powell’s Statement

Stocks Crater After Fed Meeting Even though stocks entered Wednesday near the low for the year, they fell even more after the Fed’s decision and press conference. Specifically, the S&P 500 fell 1.54%, the Nasdaq fell 2.17%, and the Russell 2000 fell 2.03%. S&P 500’s 14 day RSI fell to 31.93 which means it is…

Hawkish Hike - Fed Surprises The Market

Hawkish Hike - The Fed Raises Rates And Lowers Guidance Slightly Fed raised the Fed funds rate 25 basis points and the IOER by 20 basis points. Fed funds rate’s range increased from 2%-2.25% to 2.25%-2.5%. Guidance for rate hikes in 2019 fell from 3 to 2. I projected the Fed would hike rates and…

WTI Oil Falls 7.3% - Down 40% Since October

WTI Oil - Slight Tuesday Rally: Stocks Still Oversold Before we get into WTI Oil, let's review the stock market. S&P 500 was up one basis point on Tuesday which means it is still right at the low for the year. Nasdaq increased 0.45% and the Russell 2000 fell 7 basis points. Because of the…

Stocks Primed for a Rally

Stocks Primed For A Rally The stock market is uncertain about the possibility of a trade war and a hawkish Fed. However, I think a trade deal will be struck and the Fed will pull back on its hawkish 2019 guidance. Specifically, I expect the Fed to hike rates on Wednesday and guide for either…

Bear Market - Are We In One Already?

Bear  Market - Another Terrible Day Of Selling In the short term, I was very wrong to be bullish as of Friday’s close. Stocks fell sharply on Monday, which makes them even more oversold. It’s almost as if the market is doing whatever it takes to get the Fed to not hike rates on Wednesday.…

Strong Control Group Retail Sales Growth

Strong Control Group - Real Wages Monthly decline in weekly hours worked hurt real weekly wage growth. But overall the November growth was still positive which means there was improvement. This has been a relatively strong cycle for real wage growth. You can’t expect growth to average 1%-2%. Anything positive is good news. Gigh wage…

Traders Scared - It’s Time To Buy Stocks

Traders Scared - Stocks Crater Friday Stocks were hit on Friday because of worries about poor Chinese retail sales and industrial production growth. This caused the S&P 500 to fall 1.91%. That's a big deal because it fell below the November low. It is now at its lowest point since May. S&P 500 closed at…

Regional Banks Hit New Lows

Regional Banks - Small Caps Crater On Thursday S&P 500 was nearly flat as it only fell 2 basis points. It is still near the February low as it will likely remain in a tight range until tangible news about the trade war comes out and the Fed updates its 2019 guidance. VIX was down…

Bears - Most Since 2013

Bears - Mom & Pop Investors Are Nervous Investor sentiment is terrible. That's a good indicator stocks will do well in the intermediate term unless the fundamentals crater. About 50% of retail investors think the stock market will be lower in the next 6 months. Even though some bears claim investors are always buying the…

Small Business Optimism Falls

Small Business Confidence Falters Volatility in the stock market combined with the political bias in the survey caused the NFIB small business optimism index to fall from 107.4 to 104.8. You can see this in the chart below. This report missed estimates for 107 and the low end of the consensus range which was 105.5.…