Daily Market Commentary

The Fed's sentiment seems to be changing as they take a more hawkish tone with recent comments and per the recent FOMC meeting minutes, and the stock market reacted as we might expect since the Federal Reserve and their actions have been such major factor in our "free" markets. The Dow lost a modest 145-points with more significant percent losses in the broader indices. Oil fell sharply and below $100 a barrel, and 10-year bond yields move up to new highs.

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We saw some dip buying early on Tuesday after a slightly negative open, but the Fed stepped in and reminded investors and the market that they are still planning to what they have been telling us that they are going to do. Bond Yields moved up sharply on the Fed hawkish comment, and stocks rolled over. The Dow lost 281-points and small caps, which are very interest rate sensitive, lost over 2% on the day. Oil and the metals were up, then down, as the dollar continued to rally, boosted by that ...

April has started out on a bullish note, which is not uncommon, and we saw a solid rally on the second trading day of the month. The Dow gained 104-points but it was the tech heavy Nasdaq indices that performed best, perhaps thanks to Elon Musk, giving us flash back to the 2020 - 2021 bull market. Can it last, or has this just been a bear market rally? Bonds were up and the yield curve remains inverted.

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After a wild finish to March on Thursday with stocks plummeting in that final half hour of trading, Friday the first of April saw similarly wild action, but this time the push was upward in the final 15 minutes of trading. After losing 72-points, or 1.6% on Thursday, the lame follow-through action in the S&P 500 on Friday was a troubling development, but that last 15 minutes may gave the bulls some momentum to build on for the new week. Small caps and the I-fund saw much better results as ...

Stocks were down on Thursday, the final trading day of the first quarter, which was a struggle for stocks. We got a taste of that window dressing type of trading in that final hour where the downside accelerated. The Dow ended the day down 550-points, and the big three indices were all down about a percent and a half. Bonds were up a bit and the 2/10 year yield curve did invert.

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