For most of 2022, supply shortages, along with increasing energy demand have been pushing the prices of energy products, including crude oil and natural gas to levels not seen since 2014. Oil prices have dropped off early summer peaks quite a bit as some of those shortages have moderated, however energy commodity prices in general […]
Read MoreMany of the principles behind different investing methods can be summarized by cute little sound bites that make them easier to remember and work with. One of the first ones I learned more than two decades ago has become a primary reference point for helping me think about the likelihood a stock will move the […]
Read MoreEvery year, market watchers and talking heads look for a central narrative that can weave the market and economy’s movements into a single cohesive thread. That storyline often focuses on one of any number of factors – economic, political, or social – that history has proved can impact the market in a material way. Through […]
Read MoreThe Technology sector was a bright spot throughout 2020 and 2021. It has also led the market lower throughout this year, with a lot of Tech stocks extending their own year-to-date losses well past traditional bear market levels. One of the reasons the sector led the market higher until 2022 is because so much of […]
Read MoreEach year, it seems that analysts and pundits alike spend a significant amount of time trying to identify the driving elements of market and economic activity. In a 2022 that has seen a lot of newsworthy events from war to inflation and everything in between, I think there is one word we can use to […]
Read MoreNo matter what your approach to the stock market may be, there are a myriad number of issues that come at you and demand attention. Some of those elements can be anticipated, if not predicted; for example, if a company is getting set for a new quarterly earnings report, it’s pretty normal to see a […]
Read MoreThe last month has seen the market rally off of its latest low point to mark the first positive month in about a year. Today’s big rally looks like it could be setting up a technical continuation of that bullish momentum. That broad, bullish momentum means that a lot of stocks have been rallying off […]
Read MoreOne of the big recovery stories over the past year or so has come from the Aerospace industry, which includes commercial airlines. From a disastrous 2020, and the first part of 2021, this is a sector that was radioactive not so long ago. The “reopening” theme that became a part of market commentary in the […]
Read MoreTraditional, growth-oriented investing puts most of its emphasis on stocks that have already started moving up. That makes sense when you consider the popular technical idiom that a “stock tends to follow the direction of its next longer trend.” It’s a basic tenet of trend-based analysis: when you can clearly see a stock going up, […]
Read MoreValue analysis, or growth-focused, momentum-based trading? Most investors tend to think of these two approaches as being in diametric opposition to each other as incompatible methods. Looking for stocks at the low side of their historical ranges is a no-brainer approach for a value-oriented investor, because generally increases the odds that the stock will represent […]
Read MoreThere are any number of dynamics that come to play in the markets at any given time. That means that the ebb and flow of economic health on either a national or global scale can be tied to a lot of different societal elements. Those varying elements include political and geopolitical shifts, social perceptions and […]
Read MoreOne of my favorite movies of all-time is “The Man from Snowy River,” and one of my favorite sound bites from that film comes early in the story, when Kirk Douglas’ crusty codger tells the young hero, “don’t throw effort after foolishness.” That bit of advice comes back to me fairly often, and I think […]
Read MoreTrying to find a positive story thread for the stock market in 2022 might seem a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. That’s only true, however if your strategy for the markets relies exclusively on looking for growth. In bear market conditions, with inflation increasing and interest rates rising, it’s easy to […]
Read MoreFor a sizable portion of this entire year, the Basic Materials sector has offered some of the most interesting cases for value-based investing. That case included a number of stocks that diverged from the uncertain, bearish conditions of the rest of the market until the beginning of summer. While a number of those stocks have […]
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