Just as the third quarter reporting season for the S&P 500 came to an end on Monday with H&R Block, AutoZone (AZO) kicked off the fourth quarter season after yesterday’s closing bell. The automotive retailer announced earnings per share (EPS) of $7.27, well above the Estimize consensus of $7.22 and the Wall Street consensus of $7.18, resulting in…
September 15, 2008 is the day that Lehman died and the moment that the world’s central banks led by the Fed went all-in. As it has turned out, that was an epochal leap into the most dangerous monetary deformation that the world has ever known. It needn’t have been. What was really happening at this pregnant moment was that the…
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” Samuel Johnson The metals were held in place today, consolidating their recent gains at the top of the support. I am sure that some day we will be offered this elaborate story of how the Western central bankers used…
Biotech Stocks Sell-Off After Hitting New Highs Monday NASDAQ at 4735 off 0.67% Healthcare and life science stocks have been a safe haven from recent market headwinds but today risk is off across the board. Crude is down over 5% to $61 and this has raised concerns about global growth affecting other asset classes like…
It looked a weak recovery, and today’s action quickly exposed the nature of yesterday’s buying. Volume was modest, as holiday trading continues to be a theme. Window dressing into end-of-year remains a bullish overhang, but there is no guarantee Santa will keep on delivering gifts. For the S&P, look to Fib retracements and 2,009 breakout…
Noah Holdings Limited (NOAH) saw its shares soar Thursday on heavy volume. Shares of the China-based wealth management provider rose by 7.2% to close the trading day at $21.63 with more than 2.7 million shares trading hands. This compares to the company’s average trading volume of 334,000 shares. As you can see from the chart below,…
Reading Between the Lines Once we recognize that all investment portfolios eventually become retirement income portfolios, we can begin to focus on the regular recurring income that they produce… retired or not, the market value of your private portfolio (or of your 401k plan) has no purchasing power. Yet all 401k programs are performance evaluated…
There was quite a bit of talk today about the Sony hack attack, and some gossipy emails about some fellow calling Angelina Jolie a ‘spoiled brat.’ This is a major preoccupation today on Bloomberg TV. Maybe if the same guy had written some snarky emails about the homeless and the hungry, the ongoing collapse of…
(Photo Credit: Elsie Escobar) Lululemon (LULU) is struggling and its profits are drying up. Wayward comments from founder and former CEO Chip Wilson and a recall due to pants being too sheer have hamstrung the once fanatically popular yoga wear retailer. Going into Thursday morning’s third quarter report and the critical holiday quarter brand weakness is…
There was a time not too long ago when technical indicators worked just like they were supposed to. Momentum divergences foretold trend changes. Volume kept pace with rallies as they rumbled on. Breakouts from patterns either resulted in immediate rallies for us to buy or, in the worst-case scenario, they failed right away for a quick stop out and…
