Stocks for the Rest of Us
Daily Market Review
Daily stock market comments after the close
Starting to Get a Little Extended
Jul 23rd
The major indices are starting to get a little extended here. A prudent trader would be taking more gains as the markets continue higher. One thing of note is the trend in declining volume which usually indicates a lack of sponsorship and belief in the rally. If today’s volume ends up being rather high it could indicate a “blow off” top in which the buyers exhaust themselves and the sellers usually take over from that point.
I Think I Might Be A Fan Of Mr. Bernanke
Feb 18th
Say what you will about our fed chairman but I think he’s actually doing a good job. He’s been very innovative in thinking of new ways to provide liquidity to the market beyond the usual interest rate cuts. While the die hard free marketeers I’m sure hate him I think that what he’s done so far has been helpful to the economy and Americans in general. It will be interesting to see how he’s going to unwind all these new programs when this is all over but I don’t think it’s going to be as big a deal as everyone thinks.
BofA Takes More of Our Money To Stay In Business
Jan 16th
It appears as though BofA is taking another 20 billion dollars of taxpayer money to stay afloat. I can’t understand why Ken Lewis is still the CEO. I could probably run a bank into the ground just as well and I’d only charge a couple million dollars. If anyone at BofA is reading, I’m available. What I find strange about the whole thing is the reason cited for the additional capital infusion. According to an official it’s to help “digest” the Merril Lynch acquisition. UUUHHMMM…Now I’m no MBA but I did take business 101 and if I remember correctly there was a section in the book where they talked about acquisitions and how you’re not supposed to acquire companies that bankrupt you. I guess Mr. Lewis must have been out that day. On top of that, what’s with this guy over paying for stuff. I mean, 40 billion for an insolvent company? cmon!! He could have waited a few weeks and picked it up for next to nothing Jamie Dimon style.
Strong Close Keeps The Bulls In The Game
Dec 3rd
This market is really getting ridiculous with the 100+ point intraday swings. We swung wildly from positive to negative territory throughout the day as the bad news rolled in. As I’ve said in previous posts I believe that for us little guys there are only two options. Either you simply stand aside and wait for better trading or if you MUST play the game then keep the positions small.
We were hit this morning with a bunch of bad news and opened down several hundred points but were able to shrug that off and rally into positive territory until we were hit mid day with some more selling around the release of the Fed’s Beige Book. We sold it all the way back down to support where the market rallied again. I posted earlier today that the 820 area in the S&P seems to be holding intraday and if you’re thinking about going long then that would have been a good reference point. We closed strong at the end of the day which bodes well for tomorrow barring any surprise bad news.
While the volatility certainly is frustrating it is refreshing to see the lows holding. Furthermore, the market’s ability to shrug off bad news and rally is usually seen as a sign of strength so the possibility of a year end rally is still on the table.