Can You Feel The Doves Tonight?

Can you feel the doves tonight?  Investors loved what they heard from the Federal Reserve who over-delivered in their policy statement and Chairman Powell’s speech.  Oh yeah, and earnings were pretty good from Monday afternoon and in the pre-market.  Stocks spent the entire day in the black before achieving upward terminal velocity with the Fed…

They Earned It

They earned it.  Earnings helped buoy stocks in a low volume session that ended in a mixed close for equity indices in yesterday’s session.  A slew of positive earnings releases before the bell prevented stocks from slipping further on the heels of a tough session on Monday.  More hope was in the air as investors…

Steam Rolled

Steam rolled.  Investors were steam rolled in equities as heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar missed earnings and gave weak guidance before yesterday’s bell flattening any hopes of a positive day.  To compound the risk off mood, chip manufacturer Nvidia provided negative guidance, warning investors about their 2/14 release. The company warned that revenue expectations for 4Q…

Love is in the Air

Love is in the air.  Stocks surged once again on Friday as new hopes (there is that word again) were ignited by the President and  Jerome Powell.  On the 35th day of the longest government shutdown in history, investors were still largely ignoring shutdown risks as equities posted a positive week for the fifth week…

Chipping Away

Chipping away.  Markets closed mixed yesterday after having an emotional morning.  Yesterday’s session started out with solid earnings but for an interview with White House Economic Advisor Wilbur Ross in which he said that a Chinese – US deal was “miles and miles away”.  Markets didn’t like that, as one might suspect.  Federal workers probably…

Stayin’ Alive!

Stayin’ Alive!  Markets managed to hang on and pull out of a midday dive and close in the black, largely propelled by earnings.  Washington DC seems to be doing everything possible to keep the equity markets at bay with no resolution to the shutdown in sight, mixed messages about a Chinese trade deal, and a…

Reality Check

Reality check.  Flying high markets took a break from their ascent yesterday as a dose of reality was served up by the IMF, China, and trade negotiators.  Equity markets have been on somewhat of a tear since hitting lows in late December as the Fed backed off its aggressive rate hiking stance and US-Chinese trade…

No Worries

No worries.  Hope continued to be the central theme on Friday as markets continued their climb for a fourth session in a row.  News of continued talks between the US and China fueled the risk-on sentiment in the markets as reports that China would ramp up its purchases of US products in order to narrow…

Hope as a strategy

Hope as a strategy.  Hope for positive progress on anything in DC these days seems to be slowly fading, so when an unconfirmed headline from the Wall Street Journal comes out at 2:30 in the afternoon stating that the Administration is considering rolling back Chinese tariffs to jumpstart negotiations, well, a spring of hope emerges…

Bank Run!!

Bank run!!  Stocks ran up in yesterday’s session led by strong earnings from the left-for-dead banking sector. After a difficult year in which the banking sector was down by -18% (it was down as much as -23%), banks are showing signs of picking up as they showed investors that they can achieve and even beat…