One of the drawbacks of stronger economic data for the U.S. economy is that interest rates just won’t stop going up and are near recent highs from last fall. If or when they break these higher levels, the short-term reaction from the stock market will likely be...
The Q2 earnings season is about over. The big story has been the selling we have seen of stocks after they report. The average stock has fallen 0.71% on its earnings reaction day, the worst in 10 years. The reports themselves were quite good. Entering earnings...
The June CPI (consumer price index) was released last Wednesday. The readings came in at 0.2% month-over-month for both headline and core. We tend to focus more on the headline number that includes food and energy, two important components of consumer spending. On a...
This morning the headline CPI was released at 0.1% for the month of May, and 4% year-over-year. Inflation is coming down as fast as it went up. The pace of increase in year-over-year inflation has now declined for eleven straight months. But because monthly ‘core’...
Stocks remain in no man’s land, with neither side making much progress. This probably helps to explain why the market doesn’t feel much like a bull or bear. From a technical perspective, we are still in a bear market but remain in a tight trading range. The S&P...
BANK FAILURES… MORE TO COME? The “higher for longer” narrative was erased last week in the blink of an eye with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Systemic risk to the financial system is one thing that will stop the Federal Reserve’s current rate hike...
