Daily Market Commentary

“Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.” That key line from Chairman Powell’s opening speech at the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium effectively summarizes Powell’s view on […]

The market seas are calm, but beneath the surface, there is some intense churning, or in market terminology, significant stock rotations. Over the last week, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were relatively flat. Such gives the appearance of a […]

Nearly $3 trillion of notional stock options expire on Friday’s open expiration (OPEX day). Over half of the OPEX volume is in S&P 500 options, with the remainder in single stock options. The graph below provides details on the split […]

In Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s latest SEC disclosures, the company reported buying a nearly $1 billion stake in homebuilders Lennar (LEN) and D.R. Horton (DHI). The purchases signal anticipation of a housing market rebound, possibly piqued by the possibility of […]

The Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, is an annual event in which central bankers from the Fed and around the world gather with policymakers, economists, and financial market participants to discuss economic […]

Since 2015, the performance of the S&P 500 has been more than double that of stocks from the Euro STOXX 50 (FEZ) and the iShares developed markets ETF (EFA). However, recently the tide has turned, and the Euro and broader […]

Edward Harrison of Bloomberg recently made the following important market observation: “buying stuff you don’t believe in creates downside risk.” Conviction is a measure of how much investors believe in their holdings. When conviction runs high, investors are often more willing […]

Private equity funds often buy assets intending to sell them and realize a profit over a specific period. However, recently it’s become more common that their assets are not ready to be sold when they had initially forecasted. While the […]

Since the Pandemic, markets have been behaving abnormally. One such instance is a somewhat regular occurrence of bad market breadth. In other words, the market-cap weighted S&P 500 drives higher, yet fewer and fewer stocks are participating in the rally. […]