Buybacks acted as a massive tailwind leading up to and as the S&P 500 peaked in January last year. Spending has come down quite a bit and is increasingly turning into a headwind. Share buybacks by S&P 500 companies are … Continued
US corporate profits are now down four quarters in a row from the record 2Q22, even as the sell-side has S&P 500 non-GAAP earnings growing 11.7 percent this year and 11.5 percent next. The gap between GAAP and non-GAAP in … Continued
Both large- and small-caps have failed to meaningfully build on their recent breakout. They were stopped at important spot and now risk breakout retest. From last October’s low to the July 27th high of 4607, the S&P 500 shot up … Continued
Since last October’s bottom in stocks, trillions in additional wealth have been added. Prices headed north, even as earnings headed south, helping push up multiples. This also makes equity bulls, who are sitting on loads of paper profit, jittery, as … Continued
The S&P 500 is attempting to break out of a rising channel at a time when metric after metric is yelling overbought. Concurrently, the potential for short squeeze is less and less. On the S&P 500, equity bulls notched up … Continued
The 2Q earnings season begins next week in earnest. The bar is low. Ahead of this, large-caps are leading but economically-sensitive small-caps are lagging. The latter likely is eyeing the 500-basis-point rise in the fed funds rate since March last … Continued
NIPA profits are now down three quarters in a row. The downward momentum likely continues in an environment in which the fed funds rate has gone up by 500 basis points over 14 months. This will force the sell-side to … Continued
The S&P 500 is up nearly 21 percent from last October’s low. Yet, US-based equity funds continue to bleed, and margin debt is lower from October through April. If equity bulls cannot mend the situation soon, non-commercials, with most net … Continued
March-quarter earnings, which are on the home stretch, are raising questions – most prominently as to where the sell-side says things are headed and where they might in fact be headed. As of last Tuesday, 89.4 percent of S&P 500 … Continued
Medium- to long-term, Fed pivot-yearning equity bulls could be setting themselves up for disappointment given the Fed’s resolve to keep rates higher for longer and the trajectory of the US economy and/or corporate earnings. Near-term, in an FOMC week, a … Continued