[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets The futures markets crashed into the red last night, despite a strong start to the session. The cause was another unprecedented surge in initial jobless claims, after last week’s record 3.3 million rise, but this week, we added 6.648 million for a two-week grand total of 10 million new people claiming unemployment benefits, …
No Bullish Meat On This Bone
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets As the worst quarter in history came to an end with a sell-off, the 2nd quarter started with a bang—but to the downside, leaving the always optimistic Wall Street players gasping. As Barron’s commented, today was the worst first day of a quarter—ever. That’s a lot of “worsts,” and they erased some 50% …
Ending A Miserable Quarter With A Sell-Off
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets An early rebound hit a brick wall, as this month/quarter turned out to be nothing but misery for the buy-and-hold crowd. To wit, during March, the major indexes lost big time with the S&P 500 plunging -12.5% vs. 0% for those who followed my trend tracking guidelines, which called for “all cash” effective …
Quarter-End Rebalancing Props Up Markets
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Despite Trump’s announcement Sunday night that he had extended the social distancing guidelines through April 30th, which translates into a continued shutdown of food, entertainment and other service industries, you would not know it by today’s market reaction. After a sight opening dip, the bullish theme was maintained, and the major indexes were …
Surfing The Stimulus Wave; Who Is That Elephant In The Room?
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Looking at today’s news headlines, you would think we’re back to last year’s theme of “bad news is good news” for the markets. Here’s a sample of what we faced today: More Than 500k Covid-19 Cases Diagnosed Worldwide: “From 0 to 250,000 cases in 4 months. From 250,000 cases to 500,000 cases: 1 …
A Tug Of War: Fiscal Stimulus Plan Vs. Corona Virus Fears
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Another strong rally lost half of its early gains late in the session, as the upbeat mood waned with some chart watchers confirming what I said yesterday, namely that big rebounds are not necessarily a sign that a bottom has been formed. More importantly, the indexes plunged into the close based on news …