Thursday, February 16, 2017

OMG! Only Dow Closes At New All-Time High

Stocks took a needed breather on Thursday, staring at a Friday options expiry tomorrow which should be a massive payday for the Bulls, which, we assume would be everybody.

Gosh, this is getting repetitive and boring.

At the Close 2.16.17:
Dow: 20,619.77, +7.91 (0.04%)
NASDAQ: 5,814.90, -4.54 (-0.08%)
S&P 500: 2,347.22, -2.03 (-0.09%)
NYSE Composite: 11,504.20, -10.20 (-0.09%)

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Four Straight: All Major US Indices Close At Record Highs

Shades of the Weimar Republic, as all financial assets are becoming ridiculously overpriced.

As was the case in the Weimar, this may not end well. Inflation statistics from this morning's CPI reading showed January up 0.6% and the core CPI higher by some 0.3%. Meanwhile, capacity utilization fell 0.3 from December, to 75.3%.

Retail sales figures were also positive, showing a gain of 0.4%, after December's numbers were magically improved, revised from 0.6% to 1.0%. This as holiday sales gains from major retailers were modest or unreported, and large chains such as Sears and Macy's announced mass store closings coming throughout the year.

Global stock indices have also been ramping higher of late, an indication that the inflation, so often promised by endless rounds of quantitative easing (money printing) and an extended period (8 to 15 years) of low interest rates (some below zero) is finally occurring. What the globalists have been touting and predicting to happen can only lead to one logical conclusion: higher prices for consumers, a condition that will prove to impoverish the average citizenry of nearly every country in the world.

All of this may have something to do with the globalists running scared that their era of "free trade" and fiat money is about to meet its logical conclusion.

But it's all good for Wall Street, and that's what counts, to Wall Street.

At the Close, 2/15/17:
Dow: 20,618.98, +114.57 (0.56%)
NASDAQ: 5,821.62, +39.05 (0.68%)
S&P 500: 2,351.15, +13.57 (0.58%)
NYSE Composite: 11,510.34, +41.47 (0.36%)

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

NYSE, Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ Close At All-Time Highs 3rd Straight Session

As the bubble grows what can be said of the current political and economic conditions except that we are in uncharted territory?

Just a week or so ago, many were still wondering if the Dow could reach and hold 20,000. 500 points later, on some of the weakest volume in stock market history, we have an answer, as troubling as it may seem.

With the politicians tied up with what increasingly appears to abe an overt attempt to oust recently-installed President Donald J. Trump, the markets do not seem to care one whit whether the myriad problems of the United States and the world are solver, much less addressed.

For now, the world watches as Washington, DC self-destructs. Stocks continue to soar. This could go on for an extended period, but the system is strained if not outright rigged for massive Wall Street gains during one of the most turbulent periods in the country's history.

It could all come crashing down tomorrow, though that scenario is equally improbable, if not downright frightening.

For the most part, the market is being plied by professionals more than ever before, a condition that obtains from a variety of sources, one of them a well-seated distrust of the financial markets by individuals, the other, unbridled greed.

There may be opportunities, but one would be hard-pressed to delineate any of them with stocks ramping higher day after day after day.

The overarching theme of markets over time has been to buy low, sell high, and stay in the game. Obviously, this is not a game everyone wishes to be playing.

At the Close, Tuesday, February 13, 2017:

Dow: 20,504.41, +92.25 (0.45%)
NASDAQ: 5,782.57, +18.62 (0.32%)
S&P 500: 2,337.58, +9.33 (0.40%)
NYSE Composite: 11,468.88, +34.94 (0.31%)

Monday, February 13, 2017

All US Indices Close At Record Highs For Second Straight Session

No commentary needed.

At the Close, Monday, February 13, 2017:
Dow: 20,412.16, +142.79 (0.70%)
NASDAQ: 5,763.96, +29.83 (0.52%)
S&P 500: 2,328.25, +12.15 (0.52%)
NYSE Composite: 11,433.90, +56.17 (0.49%)

Friday, February 10, 2017

Bubble Superfecta: Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500, NYSE Composite All Close At New Records

As the week comes to a stunning close, it's official, every market in America is officially in deep into bubble territory.

Consider that the major indices all closed at all-time highs today and that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up a whopping 2200 points since election day, November 8, 2016. That amounts to a gain of just over 12% in three months. At that rate of ascent, 22,000 on the Dow should be a no-brainer by the end of 2017.

Nothing other than stupidity, other people's money, greed, and momentum were needed to foment one of the most rapid rises in the history of the Dow. The other indices have surely been along for the ride; even the broad measure of the entire NYSE Composite cracked to a record close today.

Not to suggest that a reversal is imminent (been that way for 6 years at least), but for some perspective, let's examine where these markets were at the depths of the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), on March 9, 2009.

Dow: 6,547.05
NASDAQ: 1,268.64
S&P 500: 676.53
NYSE Composite: 4,226.31


In the span of eight years, during what has ostensibly been the weakest recovery after a recession since the Great Depression, the Dow and S&P have more than tripled, the NASDAQ has more than quadrupled, and the poor old NYSE Comp. is just short of tripling.

So, if you missed it you missed it, but there still may be time to get in. Nobody knows where this is going to end, but we can all thank Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen for oodles of free cash injections worldwide (QE), zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) and the most reckless economic policies the world has ever witnessed.

It's still ongoing, though. The ECB and BOJ are still pumping money into their markets, and, unless you missed it, none other than the Swiss National Bank holds more than $64 billion in US equities.

Who said these central bankers don't know what they're doing?

Enjoy the weekend!

At the Close, Friday, February 10, 2017:
Dow: 20,269.37, +96.97 (0.48%)
NASDAQ: 5,734.13, +18.95 (0.33%)
S&P 500: 2,316.10, +8.23 (0.36%)
NYSE Composite: 11,377.72, +50.04 (0.44%)

For the Week:
Dow: +197.91 (0.99%)
NASDAQ: +67.36 (1.19%)
S&P 500: +18.68 (0.81%)
NYSE Composite: +50.04 (0.44%)