Analysis Topic: Stock & Financial Markets

The analysis published under this topic are as follows.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Stock Market Indices Hit 18 Month Highs on Fed Policy Statement / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2010

By: Prieur_du_Plessis

The major stock market indices added to their gains this week - obtaining comfort from the Fed’s policy statement that the “juice” was not about to be removed anytime soon - and hit 18-month highs before closing down on Friday as “quadruple witching day” in the US weighed on sentiment. A day earlier on Thursday, the S&P 500 tracking ETF (SPY) broke a 14-day winning streak - its longest since the launch of the ETF in 1993.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Is the Stock Market Rally Done? In the Final Stages! / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market

By: Fresbee

Last week many commentators jumped on the Dow passing a key chart point as a bullish indicator. Rather fewer bears highlighted the equally prescient point that the rally now almost exactly matches the rally of 1929 in percentage gain.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Stock and Gold Market Trading Range Madness / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2010

By: Clif_Droke

One of the most salient observations that can be made in the financial market is the tendency of market averages to enter lengthy trading range after a prolonged uptrend or downtrend. This temporarily directionless trend of prices, or consolidation, within a range creates a psychological discomfort among investors that at times is quite palpable. Taken to an extreme, a trading range tends to manifest itself emotionally among market participants and in ways that can be sometimes be observed even in non-participants. The longer the market continues in a lateral or directionless range, the more discomfited the crowd tends to be.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Stock Market Bullish Extreme Going Forward / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Guy_Lerner

In hindsight, the best strategy has been to "set it and forget it" - buy at the bottom in March, 2009 and let it ride. I am sure that is what everyone did! Going forward, the best strategy remains as it has been since October. It will be important to exercise patience and buy at the lows and sell at the highs to capture any profits from this market. While buying low and selling high is always a good policy, it is particularly important here.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Stock Market Distribution Day Friday? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Piazzi

Friday had all the makings of a distribution day. It, however, was an OpEx day and we can’t know how much of the activity were market’s way of punishing late buyers and rally hopefuls.  Monday, and Tuesday’s action will tell us if this was yet another quick selloff buying opportunity or the beginning of a pullback/correction.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Economic Bubbles and Financial Crises, Past and Present / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2010

By: Prof_Rodrigue_Trembl

"It is well enough that people ... do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." Henry Ford, American industrialist

"It seems to me that Europe, especially with the addition of more countries, is becoming ever-more susceptible to any asymmetric shock. Sooner or later, when the global economy hits a real bump, Europe's internal contradictions will tear it apart." Milton Friedman, American economist

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Stock Market Investors, Don't Be Fooled Again / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Joseph_Russo

In contrast to our typical lean toward writing about how active traders can better engage the markets, this piece is for everyday people who are exposed to the markets, but too busy to pay any meaningful attention to them.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Has the Stock Market Broadening Top Crested? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2010

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

The finger-pointing has already begun - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the central bank and other U.S. regulators “failed” during the financial crisis because they became too complacent about risks.

“Even with the breakdown of private risk-management, the financial system would have held together had the second bulwark against crisis -- our regulatory system -- functioned effectively,” Greenspan said in the text of a speech at a Brookings Institution conference today. “But, under crisis pressure, it too failed.”

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Stock Market Finally Some Selling..... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Jack_Steiman

It took its sweet time but the selling has finally arrived. We started the day with a small gap down and never really made an effort to shoot higher. Some small attempts but they were quickly knocked down. It took over a month at being overbought but the market finally caved in. It's important for a market to unwind, of course, and I know it's no fun being in some plays while the market is selling off, but if we had not ignored overbought over the past many weeks we would have missed out on some wonderful plays. We'll just deal with what we have until the market finished off its selling.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Stock Market Investors Remain Cautious! / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Sy_Harding

Investor sentiment is a well known indicator of market risk.

For centuries the evidence has been clear that whether it is investing in Barbie Dolls, Beanie Babies, or baseball cards; tulip bulbs, Florida swampland, or oil-drilling rigs; the stock market, art, or houses, investors have no interest in investing when prices are at bargain levels. However, after prices have risen so much that they are creating exciting headlines, investors tend to become frantic buyers at any price to try to catch up and get their share of the gains.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Watching VIX for Signs of Topping Stock Market / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Mike_Paulenoff

There are so many crosscurrents today -- options expiration, healthcare reform, S&P rebalancing, among other things. Let's see if the VIX-SPX relationship can shed any light on what the market is "really" doing...

Friday, March 19, 2010

Take Time from March Madness for 2010's Most Important Investment Report / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: EWI

You got your brackets filled out before the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's opening game on Thursday afternoon. Good -- now sit back and enjoy the games. But if you're looking for a good read during the numerous and lengthy time outs, we've got just the thing. It's the most important investment report you will read in 2010. Forget the theoretical and hypothetical sorts of analysis that occupy so much space online. Bob Prechter gives 22 real-life examples of how deflation is beginning to spread in the U.S. economy -- along with 13 charts that make the examples even clearer.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Dow Theory Major Stock Market Confirmation / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Steve_Betts

Jobless claims came in a little higher than expected while the change in the CPI was zero. Of course the financial news networks’ immediately went to work telling the world how this is not deflationary. At best it’s a thin argument and the statistics do not back it up. Yesterday the PPI came out at a negative 0.6% adding a little fuel to my deflationary argument. Also, the slowdown is not confined to the United States as the following text from a Bloomberg article points out:

Friday, March 19, 2010

Yen To Weaken, A Positive For World Stocks / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Daniel_Bruno

Benchmark yields climbed to the highest level since the start of February before a government report next week that economists said will show exports surged more than 40 percent last month from a year earlier. Bonds also dropped this week as sentiment among manufacturers climbed and demand for services increased, boosting the appetite for higher-yielding assets.

Friday, March 19, 2010

S&P Stock Market The Technical Trader’s View / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Seven_Days_Ahead

Some analysts have alarmed bulls by pointing out the relative underperformance of the Nasdaq and the Russell indices, the failure to make new highs in key S&P leadership stocks and, yesterday, the 14day RSI registering its highest overbought level since 1971…

Friday, March 19, 2010

Stock Market Trends Higher Still..... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Jack_Steiman

An old story for sure. The market that just doesn't want to fall very much or even think about surrendering S&P 500 1151, the level just captured by the bulls that officially told us we were on breakout. When we were trading below the bears had some hope. The bulls fought time and time again, finally claiming victory a few days back and now they’re throwing everything they can at the bears to keep it over this key number. So far so good, no matter how overbought those daily charts may be. It's forcing everyone to keep some scratch in the game, even though it makes us all feel uneasy due to those levels of overbought. I look around the world of stocks and see so many stocks in great handles, you simply have to keep giving the nod to the bulls in their ability to keep this market moving higher.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Why You're Crazy to Buy an Stock Index Fund Right Now / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: DailyWealth

Dan Ferris writes: I doubt you wake up every morning saying, "Gee, if only someone would pay me 4.37% on my life savings."

Nobody does. Getting paid 4.37% isn't nearly enough. But that's what the stock market is offering you right now. And plenty of people are buying.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Economic and Stock Market Recovery, Maybe The Emperor Has No Clothes / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Charles_Maley

It seems the general consensus is we are in a full blown recovery. There is little doubt that the worse of this crisis is over. I sure hope that is true, but when I see complacency in the financial markets such as I see today, so soon behind a meltdown, I have concern.

The politicians on the hill and the talking heads on the T.V. can say what they want, but there are few recoveries without the participation of the consumer. Economic stability depends on consumer confidence, which results in consumer spending, not through a barrage of Government spending.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Institutional Stock Market Index is Facing a Major Test Today / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Marty_Chenard

The Primary Support (now Resistance) Test is happening today ...

You all know how important the Institutional Index of "core holdings" is ... it is not really an index so it cannot be hedged, manipulated, or played with in any way. It is a pure representation of what the "core holdings" are doing relative to the market.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Impressive Earnings To Push Stock Market Higher Through 1st June / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010

By: Daniel_Bruno

The first quarter earnings report season is rapidly approaching. Most U.S. company news has entered a quiet period with corporate announcements at a minimum. The exceptions are companies with negative surprises, which will be rare this quarter. Cash flow and earnings have recovered significantly from the first quarter of 2009.