First quarter earnings start this week, but frankly there are very few reports, it truly begins next week. The current expectation is for 8.9% year over year growth for the S&P 500. The energy sector is expected to swing from a loss last year to a profit of about $7 billion. If you exclude the…
Read BlogWe thought we would review the valuation of the stock market this week. Many investors ask us about our process for hedging. It is comprised of both a fundamental and a technical view of the market, including individual stocks. Please click the link below to continue reading: Market in a Minute 2017-4-4
Read BlogIf you cannot repeal and replace Obamacare how in the world are they going to fix the tax code? There are a lot more moving parts in cutting taxes and all the different factions that need to be heard. It certainly appeared that Trump’s plan was pretty straight forward and by the Republicans controlling Congress…
Read BlogLast week the Federal Reserve met and raised interest rates by .25% and signaled to raise rates twice more this year in a gradual fashion. The Fed is very good on the spin and did not disappoint. The market acted as we expected, bond yields came down a little and yield oriented stocks performed well…
Read BlogThis could be an interesting week, on Wednesday, we expect the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates by .25%. The spin, the Federal Reserve puts on is important, too hawkish and the market will start to discount a much more aggressive stance. The market has been in disbelief about the Fed’s goal to raise rates…
Read BlogThe political news over the weekend was rather shocking, Trump accusing Obama of wiretapping. Of course, Obama did not order the wiretapping, if it was done, as Obama has no authority to do so, but no one has really denied that Trump or some of his staff were not wiretapped. You have to wonder what…
Read BlogWe have been expecting a correction in the first couple of months of 2017, but that has not played out yet. We have been following the trading on a number of institutional Wall Street trading desks and the feedback recently is the large long only funds, like mutual funds, have been very quiet, not doing…
Read BlogThe French Presidential election runoff with the top 6 candidates occurs on April 23rd and then the final two candidates face each other on May 7th. It appears the current President, the socialist, Hollande, is likely out, having extremely low approval ratings. The other party, the conservative party leader, Fillon, has a scandal over paying…
Read BlogWe have been expecting the market to pullback in February, but that has not occurred. We wonder what piece of data don’t we know at this point that would induce a continued strong rally. The WSJ had an article on Friday about a large mutual fund that uses derivatives to short the market and perhaps…
Read BlogThe earnings reports for the 4th quarter are winding down. Thus far the earnings are up about 5% year over year for the quarter, that is about 2% better than previously expected. It is interesting that there was no margin expansion, as the earnings growth came all from revenue growth. As we mentioned before, if…
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