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The S&P 500 index makes a new high.  Numerous divergences exist.  The market continues higher, rendering those divergences meaningless.  Eventually, there is a short-lived correction.  The S&P 500 retests its prior high on a bounce.  There are more cross-market and internal divergences.  The market continues higher, rendering those divergences meaningless. Rinse, repeat. That’s been the…

With recent news on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s possible replacements, we’re seeing even more evidence that the stock market gains really are largely dependent on the Fed’s current easy money environment.  The stock market surged out of the gate Monday morning on news that Lawrence Summers, the then-leading candidate to replace Bernanke as the…

I do generally make a point of watching Squawk Box Europe between 7am and 9am on weekdays on the off chance that there will be the kind of interview event delivered of the calibre that we saw today courtesy of one Steve Sedgwick. This came in the form of some surprisingly jagged questioning of an…

Federal Reserve policymakers are due to announce their final decision regarding the tapering of monthly bond purchases today at 19:00. Investors are expecting a $10-$15 billion dollar reduction from the current $85 billion in purchases per month. A reduction around these levels has to some degree been priced in already whilst for long-term investors, it’s…

This week was a milestone in U.S. financial markets history, being the fifth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse. Lehman’s was of course the largest U.S. bankruptcy ever and Lehman’s collapse ensured its name was recorded in the Guinness book of records. In the run up to the collapse it seemed that everything was fine…

Looking back over the past year, it’s quite amazing to see the shift in market sentiment. Last year, many investors were quite skeptical of the market, best represented by the S&P 500, and this led to cautious market sentiment.  This year, with the S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs, market sentiment has certainly improved substantially.…

Risers: Porvair, up 5.7% The filtration and environmental technology group reports pre-tax profit in the nine months ended Aug. 31 was ahead of management expectations, adding that the full year is also expected to be ahead. They reported revenue up 13% in the last nine months.  Debenhams, up 2.3% Debenhams have announced they have remained on…

Given the uncertainties this week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s so called ‘tapering’ announcement and the way monumental pig’s ear that has been made out of the process to nominate a new Federal Reserve Chairman, one could say that those situations in the markets which are on the move in the face of this can…

September is considered to be one of the most volatile months for the key stock indices. There are many reasons, including volume and trading activity going back to normal after summer. If you look back, you will find that some of the biggest crashes in the key stock indices we have seen were in this…