Insights

Stocks were down early until rumors apparently started to swirl and were confirmed by a Guardian (UK) report that France and Germany had agreed to leverage up the EFSF bailout fund to 2 trillion euros from 440 billion. Just before the close, Dow Jones said the 2...

On the Occupy Wall St. (OWS) protest, now spreading not only around the country but around the world students want to know why big, bad banks get bailed out but the government won’t bail students out from under huge student loans. The average student debt upon...

The market rallied the last two weeks on comments from German Chancellor Merkel and French PM Sarkozy that they had agreed to come up with a comprehensive plan to solve the Euro crisis, including dealing with Greece and ensuring that Eurozone banks were sufficiently...

The market has put in a 9-day run from the bottom of the recent trading to the top with only 2 or 3 days in that run that were basically flat. There was not one down day of any significance. The market is up 11%+, 15% if you go from the low intraday on 10/4. In the...

The DJIA was off slightly today, though the Nasdaq and small stocks were higher by 1/2%. Europe was mixed. We are not near the top of the trading range. Now that the euphoria has been eased for at least a day, the question is, can the market keep going up? The main...

DJIA 3.0% S&P 500 3.4% Small Stocks 4.3% Europe 1.9% Asia mixed Gold 2.55% Oil 3.8% Bonds anywhere from down slightly on treasuries to 2.1% for high yield This is continued trading on the Merkel and Sarkozy promises that Germany and France would find a way to...

The October newsletter is done and posted above under Newsletter. I welcome any feedback.

The S&P 500 gained another 1.8% today, closing at the high for the day. Bonds and the dollar were down and gold was up. Tomorrow is the monthly jobs report and won't spoil the party unless it is unexpectedly bad, which is a pretty high hurdle. In Europe, leaders...

Stocks continued the sharp rally from yesterday's last 45 minutes to rise between 1.2% and 1.8%, depending on the index. Techs and banks led the advance. Gold was up 1.1%, bonds were up and the dollar was down. This continuation today is a pretty good sign. Of course,...

Stocks went from down 2% at 3:15 PM to up 2% and better at the close. Small stocks were up 6%. Gold and bonds turned lower. The only news was a report that European leaders agreed that they need to shore up European banks. Since banks are really the main worry there,...