Posts by Mike Verity

Stocks opened broadly higher again this morning, brushing off a weaker than expected labor market report. The Dow is up 550 points and the S&P 500 is up .7%. Perhaps it’s all about expected interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. And indeed, some of the sectors rallying the hardest—real estate, materials, financials—are the ones…

Markets opened cautiously, and modestly, higher this morning. The Dow is up around 100 points and the S&P 500 is up .1%. Treasury yields dipped slightly at the open, as markets cement expectations for a .25% rate cut at the next Federal Reserve policy meeting on September 17. We got more evidence that the job…

Stocks continue to push higher toward record levels despite political/geopolitical nonsense—and even in the face of a weaker job market report released this morning. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq all gained ~1% in today’s session. It is becoming increasingly clear that the labor market is softening a bit. For a while we’ve been referring…

Moving Cautiously Forward   US stock market averages have enjoyed a sort of tentative recovery phase since washing out earlier this month. Year-to-date the S&P 500 and Dow are down by only about 3%, and the Nasdaq is off by 6.5%. Certainly, it feels much worse than that given the extreme volatility we’ve experienced. Most…

Stocks surged in early trading this morning, but quickly gave way and are now about flat. Following a few really tough trading sessions, investors are beginning to pick through the wreckage for discounted stocks. The VIX fear gauge, which briefly jumped to 60 yesterday, backed down to around 47. Mirroring the stock market, safe-haven Treasury…

Stocks tumbled in the wake of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” trade policy announcement on Wednesday. Since then, the Dow is off by 7.7%, and the S&P 500 is down 8.6%. Small & mid-caps, as well as the tech-heavy Nasdaq have been punished even more. On the other hand, bonds rallied, pushing interest yields sharply lower.…