Blog Archives
Economics 101
September 13, 2010
Good afternoon. It was a second in a row up week for the market last week, with the SPY advancing .59 to close at 111.48 (.5%). It was significant because the market was able to hold and consolidate the large gains of the week before, leaving the SPY up a strong 4.3% for the two-week period. The VIX was actually up slightly (3%) last week but still showed a large drop of 10% for the two-week period, closing at 21.98.
Taking Off The Rose Tinted Glasses
August 30, 2010
Good morning. We had a very solid rally on Friday of over 1.5% in the SPY that was almost able to turn what had been a very negative week to the positive. As it was, the SPY finished “only” down .6% on the week and finished at 106.86. Friday’s close puts the SPY down 4.2% from the closing price of last year of 111.44. The VIX was actually down 4% on the week, closing at 24.45. What are the “reasons” for Friday’s rally?
Competing Against Fear
August 16, 2010
Good morning. It was a sharply down week for the market last week, with the SPY closing at 108.31, down 5.08 for the week (3.6%). The VIX, as expected with the market down, ran up 20.7%, closing up 5.5 at 26.23. The close Friday on the September S&P Futures contract of 1076.10 is fairly close to the midpoint of the post-holiday low of 1003 (in the pre-market session on July 6) and the high on August 5 of 1127.
Earnings Season
July 12, 2010
Good morning. It was a very positive week for the market last week, with the SPY trading up 5.76 to close at 107.96 (5.6%). It was an even more dramatic move for the S&P Futures contract, which actually traded down to 1003 in the electronic session last Monday and finished the week at 1072.50, or up 6.9% from the low print. Last week’s positive move almost exactly negated the strong down move the week before, and last Friday’s close of 107.96 is a whole 9 cents higher than the close on 6/25 of 107.87.
An Insult to Every American
June 28, 2010
“If you want to find out why our PIP Program performs as favorably as it does, sign up for our July 17th In-Office Protected Index Program Seminar.” — Tom Haugh
Good morning. Down week for the market last week, with the S&P losing 3.5% to close at 107.87. The VIX shot up 16% to close at the fairly high number of 28.53. It seems, for the moment at least, that we are still stuck in this trading range of roughly 1040 to 1120 on the S&P, with the market wanting to flutter somewhat violently back and forth from the 1080 number.