Blog Archives
Morphing Into Moral Issues
November 14, 2011
Good morning. A nice Veteran’s Day rally on Friday had the SPY closing up on the week after a serious down move on Wednesday following a spike in Italian debt rates to well over the supposed 7% danger level. The SPY closed up 1.18 (.9%) at 126.66, with the ranges being a low of 122.86 on Wednesday after a high of 128.02 on Tuesday. The VIX was up slightly (.11) to close at 30.15, but had a spike to 36.43 during Wednesday’s sharp sell-off. In general the market remained driven by news from Europe, but it does seem that, in the absence of bad news out of Europe, the direction appears positive.
Getting Spun
October 31, 2011
Good morning. It was a huge week for the market last week, with the SPY up 4.63 (3.7%) to close at 128.60. That strong up move was accompanied, as it often is, but an even larger downturn in the option premium levels as defined by the VIX. Those levels, the so-called fear index, were down a whopping 22% on the week to close at 24.53, the lowest close since August 4 of this year. Quite obviously the combination of headline news items associated with the sharp rally were the announced framework of a resolution to the Greek debt issue and some slight increase in the tone of domestic economic reports.
History…Repeats Itself, Repeats Itself, Repeats Itself
April 4, 2011
Good morning. The market continued its advance last week, with the SPY up 1.5% on the week to close at 133.15. This is the highest closing since March 3 of this year, before the shocks of the Japanese reactor issues and the Libyan conflict. Even though neither of those has shown any improvement the market has moved on.
Revolution in Wisconsin
February 28, 2011
Good morning. Rising tensions in the Middle East caused the market to have its first down week in a while last week, with the SPY closing (despite a strong rally on Friday) at 132.33, down 2.24 (1.7%). The VIX spiked higher to finish at 19.21, up 3.32 (17%) from a very low close before the three-day weekend of 16.43.
Hog Heaven
December 20, 2010
Good morning. Even though the SPY had several minor up days last week, as the market continues its gradual but steady rally, it actually closed down 18 cents to finish at 124.30. This is due to the 60-cent dividend that came out on Friday morning.