Nicholas Vardy
Taking a Breather
Markets sold off sharply Thursday, only to rally on Friday amid low volume in a positive response to the latest outcome of the European Union (EU) summit in Brussels. As a result, the major U.S. markets managed a second-straight weekly gain. The increases reached 1.4% in the Dow, 0.9% for the S&P 500 and 0.7% […]
The Dull Days of December
The S&P 500 Index and emerging markets both rose more than 5% this past week. Most of the gains occurred during last Wednesday’s big surge. However, markets have been trading in a very narrow range since then, and this situation has made things dull, dull, dull. The market’s attention remains heavily focused on European […]
Booking a 43.66% Gain… And Betting on an American Stalwart
It was a big week for the markets in your Bull Market Alert portfolio. While the S&P 500 gained an eye-popping 7.4%, many of your Bull Market Alert positions rose more than twice that amount. Your option-like positions in Bank of Ireland (IRE) and National Bank of Greece (NBG) gained 20.75% and 18.14%, respectively. […]
To Rally, or Not To Rally — That Is the Question
News reports out of Europe have held markets in a well-trodden trading pattern over the past several months. Positive headlines regarding Europe’s debt-crisis lift stocks one day, and then bad news knocks them down the next. This pattern held over the past week. Markets sold off sharply over last week’s holiday-shortened week, but rallied back […]
Feeling So Bad… That it’s Good
Well, I’m feeling pretty lousy. The S&P 500 has now fallen seven days in a row. The broad measure of U.S. stocks — which is the best-performing market in the world this year — has dropped 7.9% since Nov. 15. That dip includes its worst Thanksgiving-week decline since 1932. Although the economic news out of […]
Markets Back In “Risk-On” Mode
Global markets have endured a tough week, with the S&P 500 sliding 4.62% and emerging markets dropping 7.28%. Continuing “headline risk” from Europe, combined with the failure of the U.S. “Super Committee” to agree on budget cuts put the markets under a lot of pressure. Technically, global stock markets are as oversold as they […]