Even though the conflict in Syria can rapidly escalate, investors were feeling more comfortable with risk over the last few days. The US trade rhetoric was toned down several decibels, and this helped.US President Trump saw signs of concessions from China’s President Xi speech. Trump suggested that negotiations were underway and that an outcome in which…
Last night’s joint US/British/French military operation in Syria is over and no amount of arguments for/against it will change that fact. Prior to that and as of Friday’s close, the US Major Indices were still mired inside their respective consolidation zones near their 50-day MA, as shown on the following 1-year and 2-month daily charts. So how will markets react?…
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International Business Machines (IBM – Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter 2018 results on Apr 17 after market close. Being the world’s largest computer-services provider, it is worth taking a look at its fundamentals ahead of results. IBM has gained 3.1% so far this year but slightly lagged the industry’s average growth of 3.5%. The upside…
Allusions to a labor shortage continue to be ubiquitous. Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published yet another such story under the headline Iowa’s Employment Problem: Too Many Jobs, Not Enough People. Ostensibly about the experiences of companies trying to hire in the one state, the implication was clear enough. If Iowa, IOWA, has a labor shortage, how bad…
Retail REITs have significantly underperformed the rest of the market as rising interest rate fears and growing Internet competition weigh heavily on brick-and-mortar retail properties. This article reviews the current state of one retail REIT in particular, Simon Property Group (SPG), and then concludes with our views on whether it’s safe to add shares of…
Pattern – price is clearly in a downtrend…which I think is finished, for the time being anyway. Price made a little inside candle the day before last and the last day’s trading saw price breach the high of the previous day which is often a sign of a change in trend. Price will, obviously, need…
The mega-cap stocks that dominate the US markets have enjoyed an amazing bull run. But February’s first correction in years proved things are changing. With that unnatural low-volatility melt-up behind us, it’s more important than ever to keep leading stocks’ underlying fundamentals in focus. They help investors understand which major American companies are the best…
There is no change to the risk budget this month. For the moderate risk investor, the allocation to bonds is 50%, risk assets 45% and cash 5%. Stocks continued their erratic ways since the last update with another test of the February lows that are holding – for now. While we believe growth expectations are moderating…
Stocks rallied nicely last week as earnings season officially began. Delta Airlines, BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, were just some of the big names that reported earnings last week. Interestingly, they beat estimates but all traded lower on Friday. Two weeks ago, the bulls showed up and defended important support (200 DMA…
