Blog Archives

Escalating Fear

August 22, 2011

Good morning. It was yet another week of selling in the market, with the SPY finishing at its lowest level since Sep. 17, 2010 at 112.64, down 4% on the week. That number also represents a yearly decline of 10.4%, and at this point (based on Friday’s closing action) the market is not showing much sign of an impending bottom.

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.

Governmental Overload

March 3, 2009

Good morning. The weekly report on “last” week is starting to sound very familiar, with no good news for the market to be found. “Last” week the S&P was down another 4.5%, down from $77.42 to $73.93, bringing the yearly drop to an astounding 18%. Reasons abound, a good example being the government revision of fourth quarter GDP numbers from a minus 3.2% annual growth to minus 6%, way more than most had envisioned.

Nationalizing

February 23, 2009

Good afternoon. There was continued market fallout in the last week’s holiday shortened week, with the SPY down an additional $5.44, or 6.6%. That brings the decline this year to 14.2%, and it is only the middle of February! The XLF, the financial sector of the S&P 500, was down 16% on the week to a total decline of 40.6% so far this year.