Posts by Mike Verity

US stock indexes are mostly lower this month, taking a breather. The Dow is off by about 450 points, the S&P 500 is down 2.6% and the Nasdaq is about 4.4% lower. The media have offered some reasons for the selloff—soft economic data in China, credit downgrades by Fitch and Moody’s, a few disappointing earnings…

Major stock market indexes opened mixed this morning. Somewhat disappointing earnings announcements from Netflix and Tesla drove the S&P 500 lower, but an encouraging announcement from Johnson & Johnson and Travelers propped up the Dow. The bond market is selling off as traders worry that increasing signs of economic strength will force the Federal Reserve…

The S&P 500 continues to edge higher on mostly positive earnings reports (see below). And more importantly, we’re finally beginning to see this rally expand out from just a few mega-cap names to a more broad-based representation of the US stock market. Even the Dow is beginning to participate. Retail sales rose .2% in June…

Stocks opened higher this morning (Dow +82 pts; SPX +.3%; Nasdaq +.7%). Commodities are mostly trading lower. WTI crude oil is hovering around $74/barrel without much momentum, probably due to China’s rather uneven recovery from Covid. No matter, the average price of gasoline in California remains near $5/gallon. The bond market is roughly unchanged today.…

Stocks opened slightly higher this morning as investors parse through the first few earnings season reports (see below). Bonds, however, are giving up ground after a week-long rally. Several banks kicked off earnings season today and the results were better than expected. There are few specific takeaways. First, bigger banks are stealing customers from the…

Major stock market averages opened higher again today following yet another encouraging inflation report (see below). Bonds are trading higher as well this morning. Apparently, the bond market has been mispriced, with traders mistakenly assuming that inflation won’t subside. So now they’re reversing course, and interest rates & bond yields are falling. Over the past…

Stocks gapped up at the open after a better than expected inflation report (see below). At the moment, the Dow is up 160 points and the S&P 500 is up .7%. The dollar fell relative to foreign currencies and commodities traded higher. WTI crude oil rose to $75.60/barrel. The bond market caught a bid as…

Stocks bounced this morning, reversing a two-day decline. Currently, the Dow is up 98 points and the S&P 500 is up .6%. Bonds, which sold off hard earlier in the week, are also in rally mode as interest rates edge lower. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just published its monthly Employment Situation Report and…

Stocks sank at the open today, selling off alongside bonds. The S&P 500 is currently down 1% and the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index is off by about .4%. The big fear du jour is that the Federal Reserve will soon restart interest rate hikes. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting were published yesterday.…