Although we’re well into the first-quarter earnings season, Wall Street seems more bored than not with the latest news. Corporate profits overall are coming in ahead of estimates, but stock prices continue in the broadly fluctuating range that began in early February.
From this perspective, there really is no great reason for the market to move […]
For years, the Wall Street community has had a field day offering the promise of a bright future while keeping largely mum about the kinds of profits it reaps from selling its broad array of great opportunities. Those who have seen the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, got a glimpse of the seamy underbelly […]
In the wake of nearly a year and a half of exceptionally stable and strong stock market activity, the beginning of February saw an unleashing of daily price movements not unlike what you would have expected from the awakening of a sleeping giant. Three-quarters of the trading days since then have seen triple-digit changes and […]
Now that typical daily market moves are in the hundreds of points on the Dow Jones Average, it will be helpful (and perhaps calming) to learn how today’s gyrations compare with those of the past. As we review extensive historical data, we will learn that what now seems unusual is really a return to what […]
Over the last two months, the pendulum of stock market volatility has swung from extreme stability to extreme fluctuation. For well over a year, the investing public has been lulled into a sense of security by a combination of near nonstop advances accompanied by relatively mild day-to-day changes. From a naïve perspective, it really doesn’t […]
Regression to the Mean is a term that’s regularly used by folks who refer to the tendency of various types of activity to return to what had historically been the normal range. What we witnessed in 2017 was extreme market stability accompanied by relatively steady and well above average gains.
Fast forward to the last couple […]
In the wake of the almost soporific market advance of 2017, more than a few investors have deluded themselves into thinking that course is the new normal. Surprise, surprise. It most definitely is not.
For most of the latest few weeks, triple-digit moves have become commonplace and, indeed, less than shocking. Although they represent a big […]
These days, it seems as if triple-digit market moves are the new norm. Although it was only a few short weeks ago when the media trumpeted news of the single biggest point drop in market history. All of which amounts to so much rubbish since points on the Dow by themselves rarely mean all that […]
It’s times like these when most investors are wondering what’s going on and what to make of it. As most of us are well aware, when attempting to explain the latest developments, the seers on Wall Street are often tempted to use terms that are either vacuous, silly or just plain pretentious. So here goes […]
Much like pullbacks of the past, the market turmoil we’re now seeing is a dramatic break from the seemingly nonstop advance of the latest five quarters. Indeed, the steadiness and almost dependable gains enjoyed on most recent days were certainly enough to lull the naïve investor into a state of hopeful expectation. The reality, of […]