Market Montage
Stock Market, Economics, Equity Analysis
Apr12
(note: facetious financial website hyperbole intended)
Yesterday began the "obvious" oversold bounce. By obvious I simply mean it was due after a pretty hectic selloff, but with the poor close Tuesday it was not necessarily obvious that it would begin in the overnight futures session. A negative open yesterday would have created a low risk 'trade' – unfortunately the market did not give that opportunity. This morning futures continue the bounce. …
Apr11
Here is some detail from Gary Shilling's thoughts on the labor market and how it relates to his recession 2012 call. Keep in mind, labor is a lagging or at best coincident indicator … not a leading one. Hence the 'better data' of late does not have much bearing on what is coming down the road. That said weekly claims are at 4 year lows, which is a positive. And, a point I've made many times over the past few years is important to remember – more labor = higher costs. So more hiring is not necessarily good for companies (or their profits) even if it is better for the economy. At least in the short(er) run.
Apr11
That didn't take long did it? ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure was out on the wires this morning discussing the ECB's ability to buy Spanish bonds on the secondary market – something that was once "a solution" (middle of last year) until they needed a bigger bazooka (LTRO). With an oversold market, soothing words are good enough but being pragmatic about it, the ECB would have to undertake massive purchases of the debt to make a serious dent. But as it has been the past 4 years, it's all about intervention and trying to guess when it happens. While Draghi has denied anymore LTRO is coming, if things get bad enough – you know more is headed this way. But it's nothing more than a band aid – stuffing banks with ever more sovereign debt is just a stop gap. …
Apr11
As I wrote late yesterday, the close was quite shoddy and usually that leads to a poor open. That said we are in a global market and what happens in Europe affects us. So in a quite volatile overnight futures session, markets were up a bit most of the night then spiked as Europe bounced back a bit today. People are pointing to Alcoa as a driver but "puuhllease"… it's Europe.
As mentioned yesterday a down flush type of open would have set up a very nice low risk "trading" opportunity to the long side, but the market rarely makes it easy does it? …
Apr10
Doesn't usually bode well for the next morning. But they finally came and got Priceline today…and Apple a touch. A painful morning tomorrow would actually be constructive. And it would line up well with "I want to give you free money" Yellen speaking tomorrow night.
The technical picture still looks fine in the long run but with Spain out there, any serious bad news in bonds will overwhelm technicals. And to muck things up further, earnings season begins in earnest Friday with a few key banks. At least it's far more interesting than the past few months.
Sidebar
Subscribe
Explore the Fund Mark Manages
