Today is the last trading day of the year, and folks, this has been one of those years where you just have to sit back, take a deep breath and be glad that it’s over. If I had told you that we’d go through what we’ve gone through—the tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan, the Arab Spring, [...]

Folks, the market opened up this morning with a bang. One of the reasons for this is the $1.3T bailout package they’re talking about over in Europe, which would take care of much of what’s ailing their sovereign financial institutions. I’ve mentioned quite a few times that the Europeans have slowly been moving from denial [...]

Folks, I’m always on the lookout for that news story that comes out of left field that could, in some way, hit the markets. Yesterday, I believe I came across one. Around 1pm CT, it came out that a group of U.S. solar-equipment companies were filing a complaint with the government saying that Chinese solar-panel [...]

Folks, there are three distinct factors that are driving these markets right now: earnings, Europe and China. Let’s break it down, shall we? Earnings. I’ve talked a lot about the lowering of expectations for corporate earnings and how they might have gotten too low over the course of the last couple of months. I also [...]

Folks, I told you earlier this week how I was very interested in those inflation numbers coming out of China. Well, that number came out exactly where we wanted it to. For September, CPI in China was 6.1% and PPI was 6.5%. Some of you might be saying, Jack, 6+% inflation—that still seems high. And [...]

Folks, Alcoa is scheduled to report its Q3 numbers after the markets close today, unofficially kicking off earnings season. I mentioned yesterday how I believe that another 2008 has been unnecessarily priced into things, so I’m excited to see just how much the lowering of expectations will cost the market as far as the price-earnings [...]

Folks, I love it when we start out a week in the green. Though we may find out that the markets are a little illiquid today due to the Columbus Day holiday, everything is on fire early in the session. If you’re looking for the reason behind this bounce, look no further than Europe. Although [...]

Folks, I told you this the other day, and I’m going to say it again now: Relax. Don’t get caught up in what’s going on in these markets. When we have a 500-point day like we did yesterday—not to mention the wild ride we’ve already been on early in today’s session—we know that emotion has [...]

Folks, if ever there were a statement made by a CEO of a major corporation that perfectly summarized the way those of us in the business community feel about my fellow Chicagoan’s irresponsibility over the last few years, it was Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts. During his company’s quarterly earnings conference call on Monday, Wynn—a [...]

Folks, we talked a little yesterday about Growthflation—this once-in-a-lifetime global growth story that’s coupled with inflationary pressure on the demand side—and I wanted to pick up on that more today. I believe that if we tune out the day-to-day noise—Greece, the Fed press conference, the pullback in oil this morning—and take a macro view of [...]