Stock market highs and lows

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Key takeaways Overall inflation for December dropped to 6.5% from 7.1% in November on an annual basis. While this information isn’t exactly worthy of a celebration, it’s a sign that things are moving in the right direction since it shows that the rate hikes are slowing down the economy. Investors look at the CPI data because if inflation drops, there are hopes that the Fed will slow down with the aggressive rate hikes that have made the cost of borrowing more expensive. With the inflation figures dropping and the economy adding jobs last month, we now have to wait to see how the Fed reacts in February at the next FOMC meeting, where many analysts are expecting a rate hike of 0.25%. The most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) data came out last Thursday and immediately impacted the stock market. The CPI report for December showed that headline inflation had dropped by 0.1% and that the rate of inflation on an … [Read more...] about The Most Recent CPI Data Is In: Here’s The Current State Of The Economy And What It Means For The Stock Market

Representative image There’s a price to be paid for being early in investing even if you get the broader story right, as US stock market bears are learning the hard way. While recession remains a very real threat, data released Thursday confirmed that it could take several quarters for the US economy to run out of momentum. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.9% annualised rate in the last quarter of 2022, Commerce Department data showed, while a separate report showed that already low initial jobless claims declined. The latest reports come on top of evidence that households still have stockpiles of excess savings accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic that could take months or longer to deplete. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index is up about 12% from its Oct. 12 low, and many investors have missed the bounce because they’ve been hunkering down ahead of the widely predicted recession. To be sure, it’s hard to look at Thursday’s numbers and conclude that the bears are … [Read more...] about US GDP and jobs data show the stock market bears are still early

The Indian equity benchmarks closed flat after a highly volatile session on January 11, as investors turned cautious a day ahead of the release of domestic and US inflation data for cues on central banks' rate hike trajectory. The Sensex closed 9.98 points, or 0.02 percent, lower to 60,105.50 and the Nifty dropped 18.50 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 17,895.70. Despite positive global cues, the market opened negative but recovered only to swing between gains and losses throughout the session. "After a volatile session, the domestic market anchored near the flat line as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of inflation data, though positive sentiments from global counterparts attempted multiple recoveries in between," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "India’s CPI for December is projected to remain unchanged, while the US CPI is estimated to further cool down from November’s level of 7.1 percent." Read More … [Read more...] about Taking Stock | Market ends flat amid high volatility; all eyes on inflation data

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Below, we see the performance of the US indices in the first 2 weeks of 2023. Note that the Value Line index is number one. This is an equally-weighted index of 1700 stocks, so it is very representative of most stocks on the exchange. The Russell 2000 Index is a small-cap stock market index that is comprised of the smallest 2,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index. Numbers four and five are the S&P small and mid-cap averages. Note that the large-cap indices like the S&P 100 and the Dow are near the bottom of the list. I expect these trends to persist into the spring. The S&P 600 has risen 89% of the time from January 22 nd to June 8 th over the last 28 years. These stocks are scanned by relative strength and by cycles. Tennant TNC Company designs, manufactures, and markets floor cleaning equipment. The stock is ranked third in the S&P 600 for cycles and relative strength. Relative strength bottomed … [Read more...] about Stocks This Week: Buy Tennant Company And Brown & Brown

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Vietnam stock market has essentially been closed to new IPOs for a year. Their bond markets and banking sector have been roiled by controversy and reforms. Their domestic stock index has traded down by 30% since 2021. That said, Vietnam is home to several ambitious companies preparing to take on overseas competitors to dominate the local markets and hoping to make their mark on the global capital markets. The country’s domestic consumption is soaring as the country recovers from COVID lockdowns, with GDP growing at a blistering 8% in 2022. More importantly, a new generation of tech-forward domestic companies seeks to transform the domestic economy by driving new digital business models and, in some cases, even disrupting global markets. The most audacious example is the Vietnamese electric vehicle company, VinFast, which filed for a $1 billion IPO on NASDAQ in December. VinFast, which is part of Vietnam’s largest … [Read more...] about As Southeast Asia Emerges As A Capital Markets Contender, Vietnam Primes Growing Digital Companies For Global IPO Market

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The stock market is a complex machine whose movements are difficult to understand. However, one thing seems clear — if a company grows faster and projects a brighter future than investors expect, its stock price will rise. If that same company’s performance and prospects fall short of the Wall Street view, its stock price will plunge. For investors, this simple rule is not particularly useful because it is virtually impossible to predict ahead of time whether a company will exceed or fall short of investor expectations. What’s more, there are times when a company’s performance and prospects are a matter of being in the right or wrong place at a time when factors outside of management’s control abruptly shift the rules of the game. You don’t have to look into the distant past to find examples. In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic created a boom in people working from home (WFH). That was spectacular news for companies like … [Read more...] about Up 34% Since January 19, Stock In Boston’s Wayfair Will Fall Further

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The recent decline in the stock market has led some of the commentariat to paint a dire picture. According to Richard Waters in the Financial Times , the situation is not only “a car crash”: the crash “may be far from over.” Indeed, “the axe is hanging over high-growth companies with stretched valuations…” As Mark Barnes, and Christine Haggerty and FTSERussell tell us, there is a “tech wreck” that has taken a “brutal toll.” According to John Gapper at the Financial Times , “As inflation raises supermarket prices, higher interest rates will curb investment in innovation.” Apparently, we can now say “goodbye to the golden age of consumer choice.” As Mark Twain once noted , “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Once we look beyond the recent news, and look at the bigger picture, we can see that tech is far from dead. In fact, as of May 13, the five-year year total return of the tech-heavy Nasdaq index … [Read more...] about How To Understand Stock Market Alarmism

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin T he recessionary fears spiked again last week and helped drop the Dow Jones Industrials over 600 points last Wednesday. In a weekend article , it was reported from JPMorgan’s trading model that “ seven of nine asset classes from high-grade bonds to European stocks now show less than a 50% chance of a recession.” ADVERTISEMENT However, S&P 500 suggested less bullishness as they have a 75% probability of a recession. That was consistent with last week’s skepticism over the stock market rally so far in 2023. Individual investors do not seem to be as bearish as last Thursday’s survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) showed that the bullish % rose to 31% up from 24% the prior week. The bearish % also declined well over 6%. Many investors look to analysts’ buy or sell ratings to help them determine what stocks to buy or sell. These ratings are regularly reported in the financial … [Read more...] about Analysts Say Buy These Market Titans But Should You?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin We believe that pharmaceutical giants Merck stock (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer stock (NYSE: PFE) will likely offer similar returns over the next three years. Although Merck is trading at a comparatively higher valuation of 4.9x trailing revenues vs.2.9x for Pfizer PFE , this valuation gap can be attributed to Merck’s lower financial risk, as discussed below. If we look at stock returns, Merck’s 37% growth in the last twelve months is much better than the 16% fall for Pfizer and -16% returns for the broader S&P 500 index. There is more to the comparison, and in the sections below, we discuss the possible stock returns for MRK and PFE in the next three years. We compare a slew of factors, such as historical revenue growth, returns, and valuation, in an interactive dashboard analysis of Merck vs. Pfizer : Which Stock Is A Better Bet? Parts of the analysis are summarized below. 1. Pfizer Revenue Growth Is … [Read more...] about Pick Either Merck Stock Or Its Peer – Both May Offer Similar Returns

Paresh Gada(Left) and Hasmukh Gada (Right) did not know even the basics of stock trading but after learning the ropes they are now making good money. For many traders, the market is like a temple. Similar to how each devotee has different reasons to come to a temple, each trader has a different driving force that brings him to the market. For Hasmukh Gada (@iamhasu) and Paresh Gada (@pareshgada) – Mumbai-based brother duo – it was boredom handling their family business. Just four years ago, these two businessmen did not know even the basics of stock trading but after learning the ropes they are now generating good supplementary income for themselves. However, they deny that they have become experts and believe their learning phase is ongoing. Gada brothers prefer option selling using various strategies with a target to generate at least 2 percent profit each month. They said they have generated 36 percent returns from their trade in the first nine months of FY23. … [Read more...] about Trader’s Edge: A brother duo is using simplest option strategy to make a killing in the market