Market Insights
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Three Potential Signs of a Turn, Even After Stocks Had Another Bearish Week
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 6, 2020. Stocks fell again last week, but there may be signs the market is starting to see light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. The S&P 500 slid 2.1 percent between Friday, March 27, and Friday,...
How This Correction Is Unlike Anything in the History of the Stock Market
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on March 12, 2020. If the coronavirus is shaking your faith in stocks, you need to keep reading this article. Why? There are three reasons. Reason 1: This Selloff Is a Total Aberration Pretty much every previous...
Suddenly, Everyone’s Talking About Rate Cuts
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on March 2, 2020. Last week's selloff is making people think the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again soon. The market is pricing in a near-unanimous opinion that the Fed will lower its target rate by 50...
Undercounting: A Potentially Bearish Twist to the Coronavirus Outbreak
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 27, 2020. A new and potentially bearish twist is emerging in the coronavirus outbreak: the risk of health officials undercounting cases. "We could have it spread here in the United States and not be...
Diagnosing the Coronavirus Selloff: Just How Bad Is It?
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 25, 2020. Stocks continued their selloff on Tuesday as coronavirus spreads around the world. Here are some facts on what it means for your money. First, this pullback is now a "big one." The S&P 500...
One Bearish Story After Another Seems to Be Hitting Crude Oil
Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 22, 2020. Energy may be resuming its downtrend as one bearish story after another piles up. Crude oil futures (@CL) are down for the third straight week. That's the longest losing streak since they last...
Options Alert: Can DoorDash Keep Delivering for the Bulls?
DoorDash jumped earlier in the week, and one big options trader seems to think the move will continue. Check out this large transaction in the food-delivery company: 25,000 December 35 calls were sold for $22.10.35,000 February 45 calls were purchased at almost the...
Stocks Just Did Something For the 1st Time Since Bear Market Began: November Recap
Stocks just completed back-to-back positive months for the first time in over a year as investors look for the Federal Reserve to slow aggressive interest-rate hikes. The S&P 500 rose 4 percent in November following an 8 percent surge in October. (The last set of...
Stocks Eye Key Resistance as the Fed Looks to Slow Interest Rate Hikes
Stocks are eying key resistance as the market attempts its second straight positive month. The S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent in the holiday-shortened week between November 18 and November 25. The index is up 4 percent so far in November. If the gains hold through...
Three Potential Signs of a Turn, Even After Stocks Had Another Bearish Week
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 6, 2020. Stocks fell again last week, but there may be signs the market is starting to see light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. The S&P 500 slid 2.1 percent between Friday, March 27, and Friday,...
How This Correction Is Unlike Anything in the History of the Stock Market
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on March 12, 2020. If the coronavirus is shaking your faith in stocks, you need to keep reading this article. Why? There are three reasons. Reason 1: This Selloff Is a Total Aberration Pretty much every previous...
Suddenly, Everyone’s Talking About Rate Cuts
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on March 2, 2020. Last week's selloff is making people think the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again soon. The market is pricing in a near-unanimous opinion that the Fed will lower its target rate by 50...
Undercounting: A Potentially Bearish Twist to the Coronavirus Outbreak
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 27, 2020. A new and potentially bearish twist is emerging in the coronavirus outbreak: the risk of health officials undercounting cases. "We could have it spread here in the United States and not be...
Diagnosing the Coronavirus Selloff: Just How Bad Is It?
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 25, 2020. Stocks continued their selloff on Tuesday as coronavirus spreads around the world. Here are some facts on what it means for your money. First, this pullback is now a "big one." The S&P 500...
One Bearish Story After Another Seems to Be Hitting Crude Oil
Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 22, 2020. Energy may be resuming its downtrend as one bearish story after another piles up. Crude oil futures (@CL) are down for the third straight week. That's the longest losing streak since they last...
Options Alert: Can DoorDash Keep Delivering for the Bulls?
DoorDash jumped earlier in the week, and one big options trader seems to think the move will continue. Check out this large transaction in the food-delivery company: 25,000 December 35 calls were sold for $22.10.35,000 February 45 calls were purchased at almost the...
Stocks Just Did Something For the 1st Time Since Bear Market Began: November Recap
Stocks just completed back-to-back positive months for the first time in over a year as investors look for the Federal Reserve to slow aggressive interest-rate hikes. The S&P 500 rose 4 percent in November following an 8 percent surge in October. (The last set of...
Stocks Eye Key Resistance as the Fed Looks to Slow Interest Rate Hikes
Stocks are eying key resistance as the market attempts its second straight positive month. The S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent in the holiday-shortened week between November 18 and November 25. The index is up 4 percent so far in November. If the gains hold through...
Hungry for Stocks, Investors Buy Safe Havens as the Yield Curve Inverts
Investors are rotating to safe havens as an inverted yield curve causes worries about the economy. Still, the S&P 500 is holding some potentially important levels. The index was little changed last week, with a sharp split between sectors. Cyclical groups like...
AMD Was TradeStation’s Busiest Symbol in March as Facebook Slipped
Advanced Micro Devices remained the busiest symbol at TradeStation Securities in March as growth stocks attempted to rebound from steep drops earlier in the year. The monthly top 10 had few big changes as the broader market registered its first positive month since...
Tesla Is Leading a Rebound in Megacap Growth Stocks as the Fed Fades and Earnings Approach
High-multiple growth stocks have lagged since late 2021. But that's changing thanks to Tesla. The electric-vehicle giant is up 25 percent so far this month, making it the top performer in the Nasdaq-100 in March. The rally began when TSLA refused to stay under $800...
Chart of the Day: Here’s a Rare Breakout in the Technology Sector
Most technology stocks remain well off their highs in 2022, but not Juniper Networks. The maker of routers and switches closed at its highest level in almost 11 years last week. The breakout followed some interesting patterns that may anticipate a bigger move. First,...
Stocks Are Attempting Their First Positive Month of 2022 as Negativity Fades
Stocks are heading for their first positive month of the year as a glacier of negativity melts and capital flows back to the market. The S&P 500 rose 1.8 percent between Friday, March 18, and Friday, March 25. The index had its highest weekly close since early...
Cryptocurrencies Are Holding Their Ground as Potential Positives Mount
Cryptocurrencies have been sitting quietly for most of the year as investors digest potential positives like Ethereum's pending upgrade and more institutional adoption. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two biggest digital assets, are little changed since the first week of...
Pharmaceutical Giant Rallies and Pulls Back. Check out this Technical Analysis.
Pfizer has bounced in March after two negative months, and now it's having a quick pullback. The first pattern on today's chart is the 50-day moving average, which PFE recently crossed above. Other times the pharmaceutical giant moved over (or under) this MA were...
Tech Stocks Break the Downtrend Despite a Hawkish Fed. Are the Bears Losing Control?
Stocks just had their biggest rally in over a year as a broad cloud of bearishness began to lift, despite an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 rose 6.2 percent between Friday, March, 11, and Friday, March 18. The Nasdaq-100 jumped 8.4 and the Dow...
Housing Market Defies Higher Rates as Strong Demand Fuels Construction Boom
Housing stocks are down sharply this year as investors worry about higher interest rates. However activity on the ground continues to accelerate. The Commerce Department reported that February housing starts rose almost 7 percent to 1.77 million. It beat forecasts by...
Bulls Target Steel Giant with Leveraged Trade: Options Recap
One big investor is apparently feeling bullish as the world's top steelmaker moves higher. ArcelorMittal (MT) had its busiest session in over a year on Wednesday. Here's a breakdown of the large, leveraged strategy that accounted for more of the activity: A block of...
Monster Options Volume in New Media Darling
Love it? Hate it? Trade it! That's the story today in Netflix (NFLX). The new-media darling cratered this morning on news of weak subscriber growth, before clawing back most of its losses. Analysts were all over the map in response, with some cutting estimates and...
Big call roll detected in retailer: Options recap
Someone's apparently using options to ride the bounce in a big-box retailer. Here's a breakdown of heavy options activity detected in Target (TGT) this morning: A block of 12,000 January 72.50 calls was bought for $7.55. An equal number of July 70 calls was sold for...
Massive Leveraged Trade in Media Space: Options Activity
Disclosure: This post is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered a recommendation. Options trading may not be suitable for all investors. A massive, high-risk options trade is looking for upside in the takeover-frenzied media space. Here's...
Housing and Brazilian Fintech: Options Recap
What does a Texas home builder have in common with a South American tech stock? Both saw gushes of bullish options activity on Thursday. First, DR Horton (DHI). The housing company headquartered between Dallas and Fort Worth reports earnings on July 26. Options...
Guess Who Out-traded Apple and Facebook Yesterday: Options Recap
Normally big tech companies dominate activity in the options market. But not yesterday. The busiest underliers, after all, are usually companies like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Micron Technology (MU) and Nvidia (NVDA). But on Wednesday all of those were outdone by a...
Retail & Railroads: Options Recap
Here's a breakdown of some big options spreads from Tuesday. Both reflected continued optimism about the economy. First, a put ratio spread in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT): A block of 50,000 27-July 48 puts was bought for $0.36. Some 100,000 27-July 47 puts were...
Traders Doubt Safety of Classic Safe Haven: Options Recap
So much for utilities being a safe haven. The SPDR Utility Fund (XLU) has risen about 6 percent in the last month, making it the top-performing major sector. But yesterday, traders braced for a potential selloff: A block of 75,000 September 50 puts in XLU was bought...
Basics of Hedging, Part 2: Covered Calls
Most investors know that volatility can inflict pain on even the best holdings. So today we're continuing a series of posts on using options to hedge. Last time we considered buying puts for protection. Today we'll look at selling covered calls for protection. Owning...