The Nasdaq 100 is making the headlines – for the wrong reasons. Early in the year, it started to outperform its major U.S. peers. Now it is lagging – massively. June-to-date, the index is down two percent. In contrast, the … Continued
Here is a brief review of period-over-period change in short interest in the May 16-31 period in the Nasdaq and NYSE Group as well as nine S&P 500 sectors. Nasdaq The uptrend in short interest since the mid-January low this … Continued
ITB, the iShares U.S. home construction ETF, has posted seven straight positive months. The rally began last November – post-election. Momentum is not broken, but is not in acceleration either. May was essentially unchanged – up 0.25 percent – with … Continued
U.S. financials are acting lethargic but they have so far managed to cling on to potentially crucial support. Post-presidential election last November, a fire was lit under U.S. financials. Intraday between November 9 and March 2, XLF, the SPDR financial … Continued
Equity bears have been rewarded the past couple of weeks, with the S&P 500 large cap index down 1.6 percent. There is likely more reward medium term, but near-term is a toss-up. In the wake of the 2.5-percent drop on … Continued
The importance of consumers in the U.S. economy cannot be stressed enough. Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) accounted for 68.6 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter. Five decades ago, PCE’s share was nine points lower. Put another … Continued
In the past five weeks, all things in the world of bonds have done a lot of running… but on the treadmill. The popular bond ETF, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), is essentially unchanged during that time … Continued
Is the Fed about to make a mistake? Post-FOMC meeting yesterday, the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ suggested a majority of policymakers were leaving the door open for two rate hikes in 2015. After the release of the statement, TLT, the iShares … Continued
The PowerShares QQQ (110.05), the ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100, seems to want to go lower, at least near-term. When the Qs broke out of 104-plus in February, it quickly added nearly four percent, rallying seven-plus percent for the … Continued
Since spot West Texas Intermediate crude broke out of 54 mid-April, it has continued to add to gains, even as XLE, the energy SPDR ETF, has gone sideways/down. Since that major push through four-month consolidation in the middle of April, … Continued