Do you recall the evil of the market back in early February? You know, those evil folks that caused the market to crash known as the “short-Vol/VIX traders”. CNBC’s Mad Money Host Jim Cramer penned an article only a couple days after the February 5th Volpocolypse titled “Jim Cramer: There Are 4 Real Culprits for…
We want to begin this week’s research report with a quick look back at what some might argue was the most important economic data from last week, the Nonfarm Payroll report. The report showed the U.S. adding 164,000 jobs and unemployment falling to 3.9%; the first time the jobless rate has dropped below 4% since the…
Social media and social-financial media sites can be a scary place. Be it Twitter (TWTR), Seeking Alpha or StockTwits, they might be better understood to have a caveat emptor (buyer beware) sticker attached to the various social platforms. I participate and have participated in all of these venues in order to gather resources and disseminate…
The “big news”, maybe, headline yesterday was delivered through the Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) data. The inflation gauge rose to a 12-month rate of 2%, hitting the Federal Reserve’s target for the first time in nearly a year. The 12-month increase in core rate of inflation was close behind, rising to 1.9% in March…
About half the S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter results last week. Approximately 80% of those companies reporting results surpassed analysts’ earnings estimates, better than the 74% four-quarter average. And earnings outperformance was substantial, with companies surpassing average estimates by 9.4%, above the average of 5.1%, according to FactSet data. For the week, however, the…
Today’s U.S. equity futures, thus far, look far more promising than did yesterday’s futures. At their trough, Dow Futures were down over 600 points whereas in the 5:00 a.m. EST hour they are up nearly 50 points. But just like yesterday, the futures may not foreshadow what happens when Wall Street opens for trading. The…
They’ve been at it for nearly two-full weeks now, the MEDIA MAVENS! The demonization of the VIX, Volatility complex and those who trade it seems never-ending, but in time… in time it will end. Jim Cramer of CNBC, Thestreet.com and Action Alerts continues to purport the greatest and most sensationalistic characterization of those who short…
How ’bout those VIX products, huh? For a few brief moments this morning, when XIV, SVXY, and VXX were all halted, I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode. SVXY is currently trading again at one-tenth of its former price, and given the fact that it tends to go up over time, I’m temped…
The Grand Market Sell-Off: Is that what we’ll be calling the pullback in the indexes in the coming weeks? Most obviously it remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, this pullback was well overdue. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell mightily on Friday to cap an ugly week and after a meteoric…
The Grand Market Sell-Off: Is that what we’ll be calling the pullback in the indexes in the coming weeks? Most obviously it remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure…this pullback was well overdue. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 700 points on Friday to cap an ugly week and after a…...
