Good Monday morning and welcome back. Although the ECB and FOMC Meetings are over and rates have been increased in the U.S., the Fed remains a focal in the markets due to the fact that we have a full calendar of Fed-speak on tap for this week. For example, at 8:00 a.m this morning, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President, William Dudley will speak, with Chicago Fed President Charles Evans scheduled to speak at 7:00 p.m. Then tomorrow, Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren, and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will all speak. And Governor Jerome Powell and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard are on the calendar later in the week. The questions that investors want more information on include (a) what the "unwind" plans for the Fed's balance sheet will look like and (b) if any FOMC members favor additional rate hikes in 2017.

Since it's the start of a new week, let's get right to our objective review the key market models and indicators. To review, the primary goal of this weekly exercise is to remove any subjective notions and ensure that we stay in line with what "is" happening in the markets. So, let's get started...

The State of the Trend

We start each week with a look at the "state of the trend." These indicators are designed to give us a feel for the overall health of the current short- and intermediate-term trend models.

View Trend Indicator Board Online

Executive Summary:

• The short-term Trend Model is now neutral as price is hovering right at the current short-term smoothing, which itself is moving sideways.
• The short-term Channel Breakout System remains positive but a break below 2415 would cause the indicators to issue a sell signal
• The intermediate-term Trend Model remains solidly positive ...

When interviewing investment managers, one of the most important things to understand is the manager's and/or the firm's bias. Make no mistake about it; most all managers have a "view of the world" (aka how the markets work) that will ...

Good Monday morning and welcome back. We made it through the ECB meeting, the UK election, and Comey's eye-opening testimony last week and well, the major indices are none the worse for wear. Next up is this week's Fed announcement ...

With no fewer than three potential big, bad events (and a fourth - the FOMC meeting - on tap for next week), traders appear to be in wait-and-see mode at the present time. And since I do not believe in ...

To be sure, there are those that remain concerned about the state of the U.S. economy. The glass-is-at-least-half-empty crowd used last week's weaker-than expected Nonfarm Payrolls report as Exhibit A in their argument. And while the more upbeat economic crowd ...

Don't you just love this game? One minute the stock market is rallying to new heights on the back of Trump's big plans (and the related odds of said plans being implemented). The next thing you know, "repeal and replace" ...

Good Monday morning and welcome back. A third terror attack in London in as many months, Wednesday's general election in the U.K., this week's meeting of the ECB, the isolation of Qatar (and the corresponding impact on oil), next week's ...

In yesterday's meandering morning market missive, we talked about the possibility of the bond market entering a big, bad bear cycle and how a great many analysts expect things to get ugly in the coming years for bond investors.

The ...

Most market analysts will concur that interest rates bottomed out in the summer of 2016. More specifically, after trending lower for approximately 35 years, the yield on the U.S. Gov't 10-year Treasury Note hit an all-time low of 1.367% on ...

Good Monday - err, Tuesday morning and welcome back. Since it's the start of a new week, let's get right to our objective review the key market models and indicators. The primary goal of this exercise is to remove any ...

Good Monday morning and welcome back. Since it's Monday, let's get right to our objective review the key market models and indicators. The primary goal of this exercise is to remove any subjective notions about the markets and ensure that ...

Having been the proprietor of various financial websites for many years, I will admit that headlines about boring, sideways market action doesn't sell a lot of ads on the internet. However, the thinking is that big, bold, declarative headlines about ...