Planet Wealth

Friday's move back above 1120 on the S&P following the better than expected jobs report was indeed impressive.  The next level to watch is the previous Jan high at 1150.  If the S&P is able to avoid the dreaded double top and break above 1150, 1220 looks to be a strong probability.  Let's not get too excited about the Friday jobs report however and realize that regardless of the numbers the government is putting out, the U6 unemployment rate (often called the "real" unemployment rate) actually rose to 16.8%.  Therefore, there is a slight nod to the upside potenti

The market opened lower Thursday on renewed fears that Greece may default on its debt.  The downward trend was then buoyed by a surprising rise in jobless claims.  Around mid-day the market made a double bottom on the 3-minute chart and then took off to the upside, recovering most of the 150+ drop.  Today was a perfect example of why to keep the volume turned off of the financial TV networks.  Commentators were explaining the the sudden reversal as reaction to a rumor that AAPL was going to announce a 4 for 1 split.  Pulleassee....Although not a popular belief, it h

The market opened lower this morning based on overnight comments out of Germany as well as a "shockingly" lower Consumer Sentiment reading.  The US Dollar still appears overbought short term and actually did break its 10 day mva overnight prior to the release of the German IFO report (a key monthly report on the business climate in Germany) which caused an immediate spike in the US Dollar.  In addition, Germany said it wasn't opposed to more "quantitative easing" (translation: having the central bank inject even more liquidity) which is truly hard to imagine.  Today's market

The market is moving back and forth around the flatline in early trade.  Although the market environment seems bullish for the US Dollar longer term, the dollar appears overbought short term.  If the dollar does indeed retrace, even in the short term, the market will have some fuel to move higher.

The big news of Thursday happened after the market closed.  If you aren't yet aware, the Federal Reserve announced right after the market closed that they were raising the discount rate.  The discount rate is the rate the Federal Reserve charges its member banks for emergency loans.  The move immediately caused an already overbought (short term) US Dollar to spike to the upside.  The increase in the discount rate doesn't really affect the US Dollar directly, however may be viewed as a preview to higher interest rates.  As soon as the news was announced, the S&P

So which is it?  What's driving the market, Greece or the Dollar?  Well, in an effort to be politically correct (for a change) it's both.  The overseas markets were higher last night based on more details from the Friday rumor of a bailout of sorts by the EU for Greece.  Further details emerged this morning which caused an already higher market to rocket to the upside once again.  In watching the charts, the market is still moving perfectly in step (although in an inverse fashion) with the US Dollar.  The reason for the answer of "both" above, is because today

It's always dangerous to bring up politics as people tend to be vehemently committed to their personal views.  However, did anyone else find it strange that week after week we have new jobless claims and yet on Friday the unemployment rate somehow fell to 9.7%?  Now we all know the government would never manipulate numbers for political gain (insert your own desired level of sarcasm), but is it possible that Massachussets has the Democratic Party in panic mode?  Anyone doing any research knows that the actual unemployment rate is closer to 17.3% so the number isn't believeabl

At the time of this post, the market is floating around the flat line as traders are waiting to see what the next move is following the big Friday reversal.  Right around 2pm on Friday (coincidentally also at a support level) a rumour began to circulate on the trading floor that a bailout package of sorts was going to be offerred to Greece from the EU.  Almost instantly, the market began to reverse to the upside.  The bulls would like to see more follow through today to show it was an actual tradeable reversal.  Thus far however, it appears the Friday rally may have

Rather than a long blog entry, check out tonight's Rant.

As mentioned in the last few days and although seemingly forgotten by the market pundits, as goes the US Dollar, so goes the market.  The market spiked higher at the open and then the dollar took off to the upside as well.  That move in the dollar sent the market lower instantly.  In addition to the resistance levels from last nights blog, we are closely monitoring the dollar.