Blog Archives
Questions and Absurdities
July 27, 2009
Illinois is trying to bet their future on video gaming in bars…
Good morning. Market is on a tear, with the SPY up another 4.2% last week, closing up 3.97 to 98.06. That 98.06 close represents a 46% move up from the bottom tick of 67.10 on March 6, quite an impressive bounce. Equally as dramatic is the plunge in the VIX to a close of 23.09 last Friday, a level not seen since 9/8/08. All of a sudden fear, or even concern about the market moving a little too fast, is totally out of favor. To hear the financial press tell it everything is ok, earnings are better than expectations, we will start to grow in the third quarter, etc. Everyone, from government to reporters to stock owners, are eager to declare the last year a nightmare over, and get back to business as usual, even though that business as usual is maybe what caused the nightmare in the first place.
The Ghost of Progress Past
June 29, 2009
Good morning. Very slow week for the market on a weekly basis, but complete with a significant down day on Monday and a large up day on Wednesday. The market continues to move somewhat violently within a range based on whatever news seems to be significant on a given day. On that same theme, the market continues to make news based significant moves, followed by literally hours of very slow and static trading.
The “Knowing History” Approach
May 26, 2009
Good morning. Another in a string of very odd weeks for the market, as a huge up move on Monday of 2.8% in the SPY (235 Dow points), continuing to a high of 92.80 on Wednesday (4.6%) gradually eroded and finished with the SPY up only .31, or .3%. The Dow gave up 227 points of Monday’s strong move as the week wore on, finishing off 315 points from the Wednesday high.
Our “Brand” of Capitalism
April 6, 2009
Good morning. The market, despite a bad start on Monday, had another strong week as the S&P finished at $84.26, up $2.65 or 3%. Friday’s close represents an amazing 26% rally from the lows set on March 6, and for the buy and hold types it gets you back to roughly where you were on Feb. 10. We are still down about 7% on the year, but it sure feels like up compared to the first week of March. Is this a real rally?