Blog

  As we near the end of Q1 and what started off as the worst start to a year in U.S. stock market history, perhaps it's time to look at what actually drives most corporate earnings: Consumption. In one form or another, the U.S. consumer drives corporate sales which should… More >>

  If there was any doubt about what has been sending equity prices higher, that doubt should be eliminated. It's clear to me global coordinated Fed/Central Bank policy is driving equity markets. Last week the Federal Reserve met and released their expectation for interest… More >>

  U.S. equity markets have been on a tear as of late. In fact, from our post, Inflection Point, where we wrote the “U.S. investor would need to choose a set of data to focus on;” we have our answer. They are clearly focused on macro trends and discounting the lack of… More >>

  The political silly season is in full swing and it would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. In an effort to add some rationality to the passionate debate, let's review the impact of a trade war and isolationist policies on the U.S. economy. The backdrop to much of… More >>

  It appears the one trend we wanted to see a reversal in continues on a downward trajectory.... Earnings. Each week we see more analysts push back their expectations for a recovery in earnings growth of the S&P 500 companies. This week was no exception. While earnings… More >>

  In last week's post (link) we discussed an inflection point in the markets that would likely play out over the course of the week. We wanted to see how market participants would react to a continued absence of corporate earnings growth vs. the growing U.S. Economy. We… More >>

  It sounds like the title to a really good suspense movie. While it's not a movie title, it certainly reflects this precise moment in time that the U.S. Economy and corporate earnings are at. On the one hand, we have continued strength in the U.S. Consumer. Retail sales… More >>

  Last week marked another inflection point in a series of volatile weeks for the stock market. [i] We still maintain one of the main drivers of the volatility is that global investors are realizing Q4 2015 corporate profits being reported are abysmal. While this should… More >>

  U.S. stocks stabilized and closed more than 2 percent higher on the last trading day of January. The market still posted the worst start to a year in at least seven years. That left investors on the edge with fears’; some real and some made up. In our post last week, we… More >>

  While “horriblization” is not a real word, it seems like it should be lately. Although there is no actual definition in the dictionary, I think I can loosely define it as taking something that is not that bad, and exaggerating it as way worse. It seems like investors are… More >>