The Main Question Might Be Getting Answered

Back in March of this year when the stock market found a bottom, I posed a question that I felt would be “the” question for investors. Is this a bear market rally or is this the beginning of a bull market?
I have felt all along that this is nothing more than a bear market rally. [...]

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Summer Time Blues

Well, I took the wrong time to take a vacation. A great deal of very important things occurred last week in the stock market and investors should be extremely cautious.  This morning I will take some time to get you caught up on what is occurring with price levels as well as what I believe [...]

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A Few Thoughts on a Monday

Since we changed the daily stock market outlook to a stock market alert format, there really hasn’t been much to “alert” you about concerning the markets.  So, I thought I would just start off this Monday with a quick update.  This should be a relatively quiet week with very little breaking economic reports being released.  [...]

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When Reality Sinks In – Illusive Confidence Snaps

Today offers us a good example of what happens when the illusion of confidence is broken.  Let’s start with the headlines this morning:
Stocks Sink as Retail Sales Slide
You mean to tell me that people aren’t buying things?  I am shocked!!  I thought that everything was recovering and OK.  
Then there was this headline -  U.S. Foreclosure Filings [...]

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Hardly Stressing

Well, the results of the stress tests were revealed this past week.  It turned out to be much ado about nothing.  In fact, most of the banking stocks went up on the news.  It does leave the question as to what the Obama Administration is really trying to accomplish through a process that didn’t make much [...]

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Everything is not Always What it Seems!

Hello, my name is Bob Brooks, and I am a gloom and doomer. 
Well, sometimes I feel like I need to go to a 12 step group.  While everyone is popping the champagne bottles on Wall Street and the market puts in yet another strong day, I still stick to my guns about what is occurring.  [...]

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Conflicting Data

Well, yesterday continues a strong performance for the stock market.  Remember we are still focusing on one question.  Was the low in the stock market in March the bottom of the bear market and the start of a new bull market or was the stock market rally that started in March nothing more than a [...]

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Good Day in the Market

The stock market rebounded nicely this morning and is back over 841.  This could potentially be a tough 2 to 3 weeks for the stock market.  We really need to watch closely so that we can stay on top of the main question concerning the market right now. Was the end of the bear market [...]

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Quick Update

I typically post in the morning and write about the prior day’s market action in addition to the morning economic news.  I am writing this Tuesday night because I am speaking at a conference in Fort Worth Wednesday morning, which will fill most of my morning.
 
So, Wednesday we will get another look at inflation numbers [...]

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Inflation is not the Problem – Experts think that is a good thing?

As I was driving into work this morning, I was listening to the latest economic reports on CNBC (financial news television via satellite).  The latest report on producer prices showed the greatest year over year decline since 1950.  One announcer proclaimed that this was good news, that inflation is not a problem.  Well, that is good news that inflation is [...]

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Hope is not an Investment

“New Signs Emerge That the Worst is Over”
“Investors hope that the worst is behind us”
Give one good bear market rally and all of the problems in the world are fixed.  This morning highlights the risk that plagues this economy and the stock market.   Hope is what you have when you pull the handle on the [...]

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Is the Bear Market Rally Over?

Yesterday was not necessarily a good day for the bulls.  However, the market did rally towards the end of the day and finished with some strength.  We closed well below the key S&P 500 price level of 800.  So now we find ourselves in between the 741 and 800 price levels.  Remember above 800 is positive [...]

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Agenda is Dangerous for your Investments

News that came out over the weekend underscores why you cannot trust anything that comes from companies or the Government.  Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that everyone was getting giddy over GM’s then-CEO Rick Wagoner’s comments about not needing any money from the Government and that everything is going just fine? 
In a recent [...]

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The Illusion of the Solution

Just like that the market in one single day went right up into the zone of the price levels that we have been talking about over the past few weeks.  The S&P 500 finished yesterday’s market at the price level of 822 (between the 800 and 825 price level).
No doubt about it…yesterday’s rally was extremely strong.  [...]

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The Big US Ponzi Scheme

In the book Manias, Panics, and Crashes:  A History of Financial Crises, Charles Kindleberger writes about the various financial panics that have occurred throughout the world over time.  There is one consistency that exists amongst all of the examples written about in the book.  There was always a lender of last resort.  The lender of [...]

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