Apple Accounts For All The Dow’s Gains In 2017
Apple is often a topic in these articles because it’s such a large company with outsized effects on the indices it’s in. Proof of that is Apple’s gains this year account for 102% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gains. Large cap firms are outperforming small cap ones. Apple is exhibit A of this trend.…
The VIX Closes Below 10 Again
The top story in the markets is the lack of volatility. The VIX has been hovering between 9 and 10 which is historically low. Actual price volatility is 48% of its long run average and has been near that point for 77 days. The chart below shows the lowest closes the VIX has had since…
The VIX Falls Below 10
The stock market closed flat on Monday. The big movement was in the VIX which closed down 7.57% to 9.77. It makes sense that the VIX is near its all-time low given the lack of volatility. The VIX being below 10 is very rare territory. The close today was the lowest since 1993. Volatility is…
The Market Is Reveling In Great Q1 Earnings
The stock market had the tailwind of Macron’s victory at its back, but it didn’t rally Monday morning. As I was predicting from a few weeks ago Macron, the centrist investment banker, won the French presidential election in a landslide. Macron received 66.1% and Le Pen received 33.9% which was below what most of the…
The Bitcoin Price Briefly Soars Above $1,600
Bitcoin Temporarily Explodes Higher Bitcoin has been skyrocketing lately. One month ago, the price of bitcoin was $1,139. By early Thursday it was at $1,567. That’s a 37.6% rally. It’s a hyperbolic increase which is unsustainable. Whenever any asset goes hyperbolic, it’s best to step out of the way and stop buying. As a reminder,…
Stocks Haven’t Moved 0.2% In 8 Days
The S&P 500 reached a new all-time closing high on Friday. It’s notable how tight of a range stocks have been in recently. There’s been 8 consecutive days without a 0.2% move in stocks. As you can see from the chart below, that’s the longest streak since 1964. The all-time longest streak is 10 days,…
Good News From Washington D.C.
Thursday’s action seems to be unusual because everything that came out of the fiscal policy front was positive, but stocks didn’t move higher. The S&P 500 has closed at almost the same level for a few days. The VIX was below an 11 handle once again, signaling not even a whiff of risk is on…
Fed Expected To Hike Again In June
This article will focus on the Fed’s May meeting where it decided to maintain the federal funds rate between 75 and 100 basis points. The stock market had a slight increase in response to the decision, but that may have been because Apple rallied throughout the day after opening lower. The 10-year bond yield increased…
Volatility Craters As The Nasdaq Soars
Volatility is extremely low and stocks have relentlessly rallied. The rally has not been even among the indices with the Nasdaq outperforming and the Russell 2000 lagging. The Nasdaq is up 12.65% year to date even after being down Wednesday partially because of Apple’s earnings disappointment. The Russell 2000 is only up 2.39% and underperformed…
Oil Investment Boosts GDP Growth
Oil Drives Weak GDP Growth I would like to continue the discussion about oil’s impact on the Q1 GDP growth report. Q3 2016 had great growth which was surprising because economic growth has been tepid. It led to an extensive review of the report which led to the realization that it was temporarily boosted by…