Financial
Fintechs Like Square Seem to Be a New Hot Spot This Year

Fintechs Like Square Seem to Be a New Hot Spot This Year

As a new year gets underway, a new group is leading the market higher: financial technology, or "Fintech," companies. Stocks like Square (SQ) and PayPal (PYPL) not only stand at the crossroads of the new digital economy. They've also outperformed the S&P 500 and...

Stocks Have Best Week Since August as Bullish Sentiment Widens

Stocks Have Best Week Since August as Bullish Sentiment Widens

Stocks just had their biggest weekly gain since August as fears melted away and earnings season began. The S&P 500 rose 2 percent between Friday, January 10, and Friday, January 17. The index has risen in 13 of the last 15 weeks, and made new record highs in 10 of...

Big Banks Announce Strong Results as Earnings Season Begins

Big Banks Announce Strong Results as Earnings Season Begins

Earnings season is off to another strong start, thanks to big banks and financials. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) all reported strong quarters. A combination of banking, trading and investment management drove the...

Guess What? The Yield Curve Is Steepening

Guess What? The Yield Curve Is Steepening

The yield curve flattened over the summer as fear swept the market. But now as it goes the other way, sentiment may improve in major banking stocks. The yield curve is the relationship between the two-year and 10-year Treasury notes. People buy 10-year notes when...

Stocks Remain Trapped as Market Waits for More Information

Stocks Remain Trapped as Market Waits for More Information

Stocks failed to break out last week as investors keep worrying about major global events like trade and Brexit. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent between Friday, October 11, and Friday, October 18. Still, it hit resistance at the psychologically important 3,000 level...

Big Banks and Netflix Surprise to the Upside: Earnings This Week

Big Banks and Netflix Surprise to the Upside: Earnings This Week

Earnings season started on a strong foot as major banks reported surprising growth in their core businesses. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and PNC Financial (PNC) all beat estimates in the last...

Emotions Flip Away From Safe  Havens as Earnings Season Begins

Emotions Flip Away From Safe Havens as Earnings Season Begins

Emotions seem to be flipping away from caution as earnings season begins. Safe-haven sectors including utilities, consumer staples, bonds and precious metals are all lagging this week. Meanwhile "risk-on" groups like financials, semiconductors and industrials are...

Trade War Drama Continues as Chinese Delegation Visits White House

Trade War Drama Continues as Chinese Delegation Visits White House

Key talks with China begin today, and things are already off to a crazy start. Last night, reports from Asia said the meetings had pretty much failed before they even started. Stock futures crashed immediately, then roared back after the White House denied the story....

Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Financial stocks got hammered yesterday, and someone's watching a key level. Check out this giant put spread in the SPDR Financial ETF (XLF), which holds key names like Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 72,540 November 26 puts were bought for...

Market Gets a Timeline for China Talks, Just in Time for Earnings Season

Market Gets a Timeline for China Talks, Just in Time for Earnings Season

Investors just got a timeline for the most important concern facing the market, President Trump's trade war with China. Last night, CNBC reported that Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington on October 10 and 11. Those are the first specific details the talks since...