Despite No Gain on Wednesday, the Bulls' Resiliency is Telling
Stocks Looked Worse on Monday Than the Broncos Did on Sunday. Now What?
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Wow. To say the Denver Broncos didn't cover the spread is the understatement of the year. Favored over the Seattle Seahawks by two, the Broncos ended up losing the big game by 35 points. Wow. That's the biggest blowout since the 49ers whipped the Broncos 55 to 10 back in 1990 (the biggest-ever margin of victory for a Super Bowl game, by the way). In fact, the Denver/Seattle game last night was the third-biggest Super Bowl drubbing ever; the second biggest was one was in 1986, when Jim McMahon and Walter Payton led the Chicago Bears to victory over New England, 46 to 10. All I can say is, wow. Good thing for you I can pick stocks better than I can pick football teams. Speaking of blowouts...
There's no point in pretending like the 800-pound gorilla in the room isn't there. You already know the market got hit hard on Monday. That pullback, and what it means for you, is going to be the focal point of today's newsletter. Before we get into the discussion, though, there's one thing I need to pass along to you here in the shadow of Monday's meltdown... don't freak out! Take a breath, stretch a little bit, resolve to take emotion out of the equation, and let's make a plan of action together. Fair enough? Great.
The Bulls Hold the Line, But This Says the Bears Are Still in Charge
Thursday's Market Rally? We're Not Impressed. Here's Why.
Despite the Naysayers, Amazon's Rumored Idea is Genius
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Maybe traders were more interested in today's news from the Federal Reserve, which also wasn't much of a surprise. Pretty much as expected, the monthly bond-buying effort was trimmed by another $10 billion beginning in February, to $65 billion, down from the budget of $85 billion per month as recently as December. Of course, surprise or not, it's not what the market wanted to hear.
Hooked on that stimulus, today's selloff suggests traders were somehow secretly hoping the Fed would see too many red flags to dial down its QE efforts. No such luck. The market sold off just enough to bring us to the brink of a big collapse, though interestingly, we still haven't moved past the point of no return. I'll show you what I mean below. Before that, while the dust from President Obama's speech and Ben Bernanke's last words as Fed Chairman is still settling, there was something else that popped up today I found worth a look, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it interesting too. Like always, I've got an opinion on the matter, and as seems to be the case too much of the time, mine is the minority opinion.