Crude Tumbles on Bullish News in Energy
For the past year, energy has been on a tear. Breaking through hallowed resistance, crude oil passed $100/barrel, $120, $140, before reaching a peak around $150. Then it fell back to earth. Right now, it doesn’t seem like anything will help it reach that high in the near future. Whatever the news,...
Bank Rally Fading
All good things come to an end. So it was today for the furious rally in financial services stocks which began last week. This is not particularly surprising, given that the explosive upturn was engineered by non-market forces that will remain nameless but whose mailing addresses are located in Washington,...
The Truth Comes Out
The rally in financial stocks that began last week is not yet over, but it is definitely struggling to maintain momentum. Aside from the SEC’s mysterious decision to crack down on “naked shorting,” the sector was the beneficiary of good quarterly reports from some large banks like Wells...
Catch a Falling Knife?
Which is Preferred: A Falling Knife or a Falling Safe? In case you’ve been away, stock markets around the world are behaving badly. Many investors assumed you could hide from the carnage in places like energy, materials, and commodities. However, even oil is coming off recent highs. And corn...
Stick With What Works
It’s starting to sound like a broken record:Oil breaks into new highs — as of this morning, crude broke $142.00 before falling slightly. The Dow’s down to new lows — dropping another -73 points in intraday trading, (after a -358 point drop yesterday). All this happens as inflation...
And It All Goes Back To…
Most of the current problems in the financial markets can be traced back to the ongoing crash in housing prices. If you know any real estate agents (and who doesn’t?), they are probably telling you that the market is really not so bad. They may even be telling you the truth. It’s all about...
Goldman’s Mea Culpa
Goldman Sachs dissed financial and consumer sectors today with a major downgrade…exactly seven weeks after upping their forecast on each. They just admitted being wrong about their call, and have reversed course. Since the May 5th upgrade, the financial sector has declined about -18% and the consumer...
Pick of the Week: Oil Services Rise With Offshore Drilling Hopes – GLBL
High gas prices continue to disturb consumers.It’s obvious they would be important during this campaign season. An inflationary environment and a disgruntled electorate are helping make energy a core issue in the Presidential race. Sensing voters’ discontent, presumptive Republican nominee...
Consumers Still Consuming
Today’s retail sales report was unexpectedly strong, adding yet another question mark to the economic outlook. The Commerce Department data showed that purchases at retailers climbed 1% in May, twice as much as economists had expected. Furthermore, the April data that was initially reported as...
Bonfire of the Financials
The embattled financial services sector has been hit with yet another indignity. For years, financials have represented the largest segment of the S&P 500, based on market capitalization. At times the sector has been as much as 20% of the benchmark large-cap index. No more. Technology is now the...
