Well, folks, we had a nice firm opening this morning after yesterday’s Greek-inspired selloff, and it feels like at least some of the fear may be behind us. The bounce today is important—it will tell us whether we’ve weathered the storm. Don’t read too much into it unless it continues into the afternoon, because this [...]

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, earlier this morning we got two lukewarm economic reports. On the jobs front: for the first time since April, the weekly unemployment claims fell below 400,000.  It wasn’t by much—the seasonally adjusted number of new claims came in at 398,000—but even that small downtick caused the markets to jump. As far as housing, the [...]

Folks, when a pullback like this takes place, you have to start looking for signs of what the next catalyst will be—the next thing that will drive a market up or down. I’m seeing a few right now that have me feeling very bullish, so I’m just going to come right out and say it: [...]

Folks, we’ve all seen this morning’s ADP Employer Services report, which shows that private employers added just 38,000 jobs last month. Considering economists had expected closer to 180,000, that number is a bit disheartening. Without job creation, our economy will continue to have a difficult time. We’ll get the government’s big unemployment numbers Friday, but [...]

Folks, a few years ago I was on a plane coming back from Europe with my family, and I happened to be seated next to a man who worked as an inventor.  He was a very sharp guy, a nice guy, and he held about 20 or 30 patents for things used in the automotive [...]

Folks, Goldman Sachs announced today that they’re reducing their year-end target on the S&P 500 from 1500 to 1450. Guess what? The S&P is trading around 1315 as I write this, and the 52-week high is 1370. Even with these adjusted earnings expectations, we’re talking about a 10%+ increase over the next 6 months. Don’t [...]

Folks, former house speaker and current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was on CNBC this morning, and hearing him talk really warmed the cockles of this old supply-sider’s heart. I came up during the dark days of Jimmy Carter. If you’re my age or older, you’re painfully aware of the double-digit inflation, unemployment and interest rates [...]

Folks, when last week’s silver debacle was in full swing—and when I say debacle, I’m talking about when silver ran up near 50 then dived down to the late 30s—I saw a lot of people who’d been trading ETFs wagging their fingers at the CME, blaming them for forcing a mass liquidation by raising margins. [...]