Category: Commentary

Calm end to turbulent week as stocks finish modestly higher. Boosted by a nearly 7% rise in the price of WTI crude oil, 8 of the 10 sectors were positive on Friday, including energy, which posted a 2% gain; consumer … Continue reading →

After five years of deliberate depreciation of the Japanese yen by the central bank, the yen has begun to appreciate—and rapidly. The first chart below shows the movement in the yen, which has moved in fits and starts. Note that … Continue reading →

S&P falls back into negative territory amid global growth concerns. Investors extended their defensive posture on Thursday as currency moves and overseas trade data spurred concerns about growth at home. WTI crude oil prices lost ground and the yield on … Continue reading →

As of last night, the S&P 500 was only 3.01% away from a new all-time high. After the extreme volatility and big drop to start off the year, it probably doesn’t feel that way to most investors though, as many … Continue reading →

Risk-on rally led by healthcare, energy prices. Major averages were pulled higher on Wednesday, as the beaten up biotech sector jumped 6% and the price of WTI crude oil moved up 5% to $37.74/barrel after larger than expected stockpile decreases. … Continue reading →

There are many ways to look at market technicals; one way is by looking at the internals. To do this, we like to look at the advance/decline line. This measures how many stocks are advancing versus declining on a various … Continue reading →

Markets pull back further on broad weakness. Stocks continued a rough start to the second quarter on Tuesday, as every sector finished down more than 0.5%. Utilities was the worst performing, losing 1.9% just two days removed from an all-time … Continue reading →

Welcome to the second quarter of 2016. Despite a calmer market recently, after what we saw in the first quarter, expect the potential for volatility to still be on the table. When you consider the first quarter of 2016 was … Continue reading →

Stocks retreat to start off week, oil continues to slide. Markets moved lower Monday amid hawkish commentary from Boston Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) President Eric Rosengren and a continued decline in the price of WTI crude oil, which closed below … Continue reading →

Last week in our monthly/quarterly wrap up, we also noted that the S&P 500 had gone virtually nowhere over the past five quarters. In fact, from the end of the fourth quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2016, … Continue reading →