Stocks lose much of early enthusiasm but still finish in the green
Stocks moved up modestly this morning (modest considering the damage down in the last few days) with the Standard & Poor’s 500 up 0.99% at 1 p.m. New York time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ahead 0.94%, and the NASDAQ Composite gaining 1.16%. The move...
It Iooks like Illumina selling has exhausted itself
With the Standard & Poor’s 500 falling 2.37% at the close and the NASDAQ 100 down 3.16% for the day, shares of Illumina (ILMN) climbed 1.67%. Yesterday and today the selling of Illumina looks to have exhausted itself. The stock traded at $400.74 as recently...
That’s not a good sign: Selling accelerated during the session today
At 1 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 0.25%. At the close it was lower by 2.37% The pick up in selling was led by big tech stocks. Amazon (AMZN), for example was down 1.57% at 1 p.m. and 2.32% at the close. Microsoft was down 1.22% but...
Pfizer to deliver first vaccine efficacy results as soon as September 27–but what, if anything, will they mean?
Pfizer (PFE) and its partner BioNTech (BNTX) plan to take a first look at the efficacy results from their 44,000 personal vaccine trial as soon as September 27. But that first look will be after just 32 coronavirus infections have accumulated in the two...
Stocks take a while but deliver expected bounce today
This morning it looked like we might not get the bounce I expected today after the Monday morning sell off and Monday afternoon recovery. The NASDAQ, dominated by the big tech names most likely to bounce today, started Tuesday off in a mild downturn. As of 11:07 a.m....
Market cuts losses in half in afternoon session; NASDAQ 100 bounces into green
At noon today, September 21, the NASDAQ 100, dominated by the big stocks that have led this rally, was down by 1.17%. Shares of Apple (AAPL), were lower by 0.41%. Amazon (AMZN) was off 1.66%. Alphabet (GOOG) was down 2.72%. Facebook (FB) had tumbled 2.10%. Microsoft...
Partisan battle over Supreme Court seat puts end to slim chance of new coronavirus rescue package–and threatens government shutdown bill
Last week, before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there was a slight–ooh so slight–chance that with a nod from the White House in favor of adding more money to the proposal from Senate Republicans Congress might pass a new...
How old fashioned! CBO worries that U.S. government debt will hit 2 times GDP by 2050
The U.S. government’s debt will be almost twice the size of the U.S. economy by 2050, according to new projections from the Congressional Budget Office. That would be up from 98% this year and 79% in 2019. (The prior, pre-coronavirus forecast for 2050 debt in January...
No rotation today, just selling
Technology stocks, especially big technology stocks, led the markets lower today with the NASDAQ 100 down 1.30%. But no sector stepped forward to say “Give me the cash.” The consumer discretionary and consumer staples Select Sector SPDRS, XLY and XLP...
Key stocks close at 50-day moving average–again
Hmmm. Last time a declining technology sector bounced hard, it staged that recovery after hitting the 50-day moving average. Well, guess what? It’s back. For example, Apple (AAPL), a critical bellwether stock in the sector closed today, September 17, at $110.34....
Newest initial claims for unemployment numbers seem to show slowing rate of improvement in economy
There’d nothing very clear about the trend in today’s report on new claims for unemployment in the week ended on September 12. (The period is important because it coincides with the survey period for the monthly jobs report for September.) The number of...
Adding Illumina to Jubak Picks on today’s pullback
Shares of Illumina (ILMN) dropped 8.44% today, September 16, on reports by both Reuters and Bloomberg that the genetic sequencing marketing leader is in talks to acquire Grail, a still private startup focused on blood tests for the early detection of cancer. I think...
Is coronavirus stimulus deal back on the table? White House says it is
On a day when Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell warned that the U.S. economy recovery, while faster than expected, could stall if Congress didn’t pass new fiscal stimulus measures to make up for the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, on Twitter President...
Stock market rethinks its initial enthusiasm for Fed outlook
At 2:30 p.m. New York time, about the time the Federal Reserve issued its press statement on today’s meeting of the Fed’s interest rate setting body the Open Market Committee and about the time when Fed chair Jerome Powell issued his comments on the...
Long-delayed performance report for Jubak Picks Portfolio–total return 10.2% in 2018 and 10.2% in 2019
When is a 10.2% total return good? When, as in 2018, it beats the 4.56% loss on the S&P 500. And when is a 10.2% total return bad? When, as in 2019, it trails the 31.29% total return for the S&P 500. The returns from these two years bring the cumulative...
Selling Agenus and Amyris out of my portfolios
Just want to make sure that everyone caught this sell decision that I made first on my subscription JubakAM.com website. I’m selling Agenus (AGEN) and Amyris (AMRS) out of both my Jubak Picks and Volatility portfolios. I added both stocks to these portfolios on...
Deals! and Vaccines! and the market is off to the races again
As of noon New York time today the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 1.58% and the Dow Jones Industrials had gained 1.37%. The NASDAQ Composite was higher by 2.01% and the Russell 2000 small cap index had picked up 2.11%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF...
Small move in S&P 500 disguises continued turmoil in big technology shares
Three stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 were up for every two that were down as the index turned in a day with very little movement–a gain of 0.05% at the close on September 11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead a bit more at 0.48% That...
Big tech takes back its gains from yesterday
The Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 1.76% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 1.99% today. But the worst damage was among the big tech names that had led the rally higher and that had bounced yesterday. Microsoft (MSFT) was down 2.80%. Amazon (AMZN) gave up 2.86%....
Tech bounces off 50-day moving average
They’re back. Tech stocks were back big this morning as the NASDAQ bounced off of its 50-day moving average. As of noon New York time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 2.16% and the NASDAQ Composite was ahead 2.69%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR...
NASDAQ 100 moves into correction
Traders who bought on the dip at the end of last week were a bit early, the market is saying today. As of noon New York time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 1.91%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite was lower by a...
Slide in the afternoon doesn’t augur well for tomorrow
The NASDAQ Composite was down an already punishing 2.75% at noon in New York. But the damage wasn’t done for the day. The tech-heavy index closed the day down 4.11% And the big techs, the stocks that had driven the rally up and are now pacing the move down, sold...
Stocks recover to show narrower loss by end of day
The Standard & Poor’s 500 almost got to break-even late in the day today (at 3:28 p.m. New York time) but stocks couldn’t hold the line. Still the 0.81% loss at the close for the index as much better than the 2.99% loss at 10:45 this morning. That was...
Payroll gains for August come in as expected at solid 1.37 million, but pace of recovery continues to slow
The United States added 1.37 millions jobs in August, the fourth straight monthly gain. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 1.35 million jobs. The official unemployment rate fell by more than expected by almost two percentage points to 8.4%....
Short-term leveraged options bets still unwinding this morning taking indexes down further
At noon New York time today the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 1.92% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1.63%. The NASDAQ Composite was lower by 2.65%. Despite solid gains in the August jobs report this morning that matched Wall Street...
Dow plunges 800 points; S&P 500 down 4.25% at its low for the day–but what happened today?
I love this headline today on Yahoo Finance: “Stocks post worst day since June.” Since June!! What else were you expecting in a rally that has become completely unmoored from any fundamentals in the real world. Remember that when some talking head ties to...
Stocks plunge after new claims for unemployment report
Initial claims for unemployment filed in state unemployment programs totaled 881,000 for the week ended August 29, the Labor Department reported today. On a seasonally adjusted basis. Unfortunately, due to a change in the way the Department of Labor calculates that...
Stocks try another rotation again today–I’m not sure this one will stick with employment claims and August jobs report still due this week
At the close today, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up another 1.54%. Putting this question at the top of many investors’ and traders’ minds: Is there any way to participate in this blow out rally without real adding an unacceptable amount of...
This rally is built on the Powell Put and, now, the Vaccine Put–what could possibly go wrong?
Yesterday in my post “Now there are two Puts supporting the market as the Vaccine Put joins the Powell Put. Those two bets–that the Federal Reserve will continue to flood the financial markets with cash and will increase the flow if the markets start to...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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