Daily Market Commentary

Bond yields spiked higher as inflation concerns were back, but the recently beaten down bank stocks actually benefit from higher yields so the financials rallied lifting the market, and particularly the regional banks in the small cap indices. The Dow gained 101-points and as you can see in these charts below, all of those gains came in the final hour of trading as once again we see late buying from the bulls. The F-fund was down because of those higher yields, and the dollar rallied sharply making ...

Stocks were down on Friday despite an initial rally at the open following the release of some key bank earnings. The bears took over, that is until later in the day when we saw something that has become a pattern recently, which is buying into the final hour of trading. The bulls couldn't quite get the indices back into the green but the losses in the major indices were well off those morning lows. Bonds were down as yields and the dollar rallied.

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A normally uninteresting Producer Price Index report came out yesterday, and not only was it better than expected, but it was down sharply where estimates were for higher prices (-0.5% actual vs. +0.01% est.) This got the bulls' attention and perhaps some capitulation from some stubborn bears and we got a strong rally off that data which, unlike the CPI report on Wednesday, held into the close. The Dow gained 384-points and we saw a gain of 1% to 2% through most of the indices, although the economically ...

Stocks flip flopped between gains and losses a few times yesterday, initially rallying on a slightly cool CPI report suggesting that inflation is still under control. Later the Fed meeting minutes were released exposing some economic concerns. By the time the closing bell rang the bears had a rare win as the indices were all down on the day. Is it too early to say if yesterday was a shift in character for the market, or is it just another dip to buy?

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Stocks traded in a tight range on Tuesday leading into this morning's CPI report. After a slightly negative open, the dip buyers were right there to do their thing, pushing the stock market up the wall of worry. Then, with about 30 minutes or so before the close, the gains were wiped away in the S&P 500. Perhaps because of this morning's CPI. The small caps led again and a decline in the dollar helped the I-fund push up toward its recent highs.

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