In my view the headlines are ugly. Ebola. Ukraine. ISIS. Eurozone. Japan. China. Emerging markets. The question at hand is if the headlines are so ugly why the advance in the S & P 500 and Russell 2000? I must write other markets are not feeling the love. Commodities have been crushed. Non-investment grade bonds … Read more
How much of today’s volatility is the result of the election? Many times I have opined the averages decline 5% to 20% in a midterm because of uncertainty. If one is to believe the polls, there will be a change of power in the Senate. Many times leading into the 2012 election, I opined the … Read more
In my view the employment report was relatively strong in many dimensions. Both private sector and non-farm payrolls were considerably higher than expected and so were the revisions from August. The jobless rate fell to 5.9%, the lowest rate since July 2008’s level of 6.1%. Average hourly earnings and hours worked also exceeded expectations both … Read more
Are the large capitalized issues finally rolling over like their small cap brethren? Yesterday was an ugly day as all indices came under considerable selling pressure. The catalysts for the selloff include a slowdown in Europe perhaps the result of the Russian Ukrainian invasion, potential greater sanctions against Russia because of this invasion, civil unrest … Read more
