Planet Wealth

Quite a boring day in the markets today waiting on earnings.  Alcoa (AA) starts things off today following the close.  Many fee the coming earnings reports will determine the near term movement in the market.  The slightly bullish tone to this point is leftover from the weekend news that a loan agreement will be made available to Greece.  Other than that, not much news to report.

Fred Couples fired his lowest round ever at the Master's to lead at 6 under par.  60 year-old Tom Watson amazingly tied his lowest round ever at the Master's and is one back at 5 under!  Oh yea and the market continued it's slow climb into the close holding the majority of its gains.

The market has shaken off the higher than expected jobless claims report this morning, apparently choosing to focus on the fact that the consumer is still spending ala the retail reports.  The major catalyst however, may very well be a solid 30-year bond auction showing that foreign countries still have confidence that the US economy will recover and enable us to service the debt on all this money we are printing.  The 30-year bond auction is followed quite closely as that shows that there is long term faith in the US as well as short term confidence.  The close will be very

The news of the morning was the surprising increase in jobless claims, rising by 18,000 to 460,000.  Analysts had been expecting a drop to 435,000, clearly showing that thus far any economic recovery has been a jobless recovery.  Expect that to continue until Congress finally gets the message that we need policies in Washington to entice businesses to actually hire employees.  The jobless claims disappointment overshadowed a surprisingly good retail report, led by Macy's (M), TJX Cos (TJX) and Kohl's (KSS).  The great retail report was then temperred a bit as some CEO's

Oil rose again on Monday, closing up $1.75 at $86.62.  Monday marked the third consecutive trading day that oil was up over $1 a barrell.  Some market pundits seemed to be confused as to why oil would be trading higher when the US has shown a "build" in oil inventories over the past couple of weeks.  A build basically means we brought in more oil than we used and there are stories of tankers sitting out in the ocean as we don't have enough storage for it all.  What some are missing is the data that came out from both China and India showing they are having drastic increa

Here we are again, back at that important 1150 level on the S&P.  After breaking above that level last week, it was mentioned in the webinar last week that a test of that breakout was to be expected.  That's what is going on at the open this morning.  If we can't hold the 1150 level on the close today, you have to pull back on the bullish thesis.  Some are quoting some moving average support around 1135, however to stay bullish 1150 is more important in this author's opinion.

After closing right at that resistance level of 1150 (the previous Jan high) for three consecutive days, the Fed announcement on interest rates provided the needed catalyst to finally break out and close above 1150.  The Fed announced that they will continue to keep interest rates at historic lows and here are the all important words, "for an extended period."  It appears the market wanted to confirm that the Fed wasn't planning on raising rates in the near future before committing more capital to the buy side.  As we have mentioned before, equity markets do not like a c

The market is digesting a better than expected retail sales report as well as a disappointing consumer sentiment number.  As we all know, or should know, consumer sentiment is not going to improve until we start adding jobs.  The S&P is at an extremely important juncture regarding the near term move.  As mentioned in a previous blog, 1150 on the S&P represents a double-top from the January highs.  The bears have been saying recently that this is simply a test of the highs and we will fall following this double-top.  Maybe.  However, if the market can br

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