Posts by Mike Verity

Stocks opened mixed following yesterday’s surprise rally. Currently, the Dow is down 239 points, the S&P 500 is down .2% and the Nasdaq is flat. Comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell are pushing the dollar & bond yields lower, and commodities higher (see below). Since that speech, the 2-year Treasury yield has dropped to 4.28%…

Stock market indexes opened mixed this morning as traders tried to digest a raft of conflicting economic data. The Dow and S&P 500 are off 250 points and .4%, respectively. Despite a modestly stronger dollar, commodities are trading broadly higher (gold +.2%; copper +2.4%; oil +2.5%). Bonds are down in price today, allowing yields to…

The Dow and S&P 500 fell at the open this morning, mostly under the influence of mega-caps like Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), both down about 2%. But much of the rest of the market—materials, industrials, financials, energy, real estate—are rallying. Commodities are also broadly higher. WTI crude oil has swung around wildly of late…

Both the US Senate and House of Representatives have scheduled hearings for next month to investigate the spectacular failure of crypto conglomerate FTX Group. They’re interested in not only malfeasance on the part of the former management team, but also identifying systematic risk in the crypto ecosystem. This could be the beginning of a long-overdue…

Major stock market indexes are mixed in early trading, looking for direction. Currently, the Dow is flat and the S&P 500 is down .2%. Industrial commodities are down today (oil -4%; copper -1%), presumably on concerns over global economic growth. Bloomberg News says the oil futures market is signaling “oversupply for the first time in…

Stocks opened lower but quickly turned around. Currently, the Dow is up 30 points, and the S&P 500 is down .3%. Over the course of the last month the VIX Index has fallen to 24 from 33. That is to say, fear among short-term traders has diminished. Over that period the dollar has weakened and…

On November 11th the world’s second-largest exchange for crypto currencies filed for bankruptcy. According to Barron’s, the FTX Group conglomerate was worth $38bil a few months ago, and is now worthless. Client accounts are frozen. The filing said FTX may have more than 1 million creditors. FTX went down in a similar way to Citigroup…

Stocks opened mixed this morning (Dow +75 points; SPX -.1%). The VIX Index—measuring fear among traders—dropped back to 23. So we’re not seeing a lot of fear at the moment. But the dollar appreciated against a basket of foreign currencies, and in this environment it’s tough for stocks to rally in the face of a…