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After The Fed Meeting The Federal Reserve gave Wall Street an early Christmas present with its decision to leave interest rates alone for now. It marked this present as not to be opened until Christmas, when the Street expects it to boost rates, which would be the first increase...

Where Will The Market Go? Investors and investment media spend enormous energies in asking and trying to answer where the stock market is headed. An elevator operator taking J.P. Morgan up to his office asked him. Mr. Morgan replied with his usual succinct accuracy, “It will...

September Song September has been a hard luck month for stocks. Since it was created in the 1890’s, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has averaged a 1.1% loss for the month. The other 11 months averaged a 0.8% gain. I have yet to come across a solid reason for this anomaly...

The Word From Wyoming   This week, Jackson Hole is the center for stock market prediction. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will address a well-heeled money crowd. They will be straining in their seats to hear some indications of when the Federal Reserve will add another...

See the U.S.A. in A Chevrolet This week, all three major U.S. stock indexes, the Dow Jones Industrials, the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq, reached another set of all-time highs. Today’s bull market began over seven years and has continued its run, climbing a slope or...

Apple Days  Peak earnings reports season is upon us. The Federal Reserve remained neutral and stocks are reacting to actual progress (or lack thereof) of individual companies. This week, the spotlight was on Apple (AAPL-$103) and the company came through. Securities analysts...

Brexit Backlash The beat goes on. After a shakeout following the British vote to leave the European Union, worldwide stock markets surged. U.S. stock and bond markets, still viewed as the global standards, led markets in Europe and Asia. Fortunately, fresh economic news and...

The Nervous Bull Market Well over a year after making new highs, stocks finally broke through to new closing records on both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. The NASDAQ over-the-counter index pushed through 5,000 and needs less than 200 points to complete a...

Stock analyst Tony Crowell says farewell to Piccadilly Square.

Exit Ramp The stock market shies away from uncertainty, thus it attracted increasing buying strength last week as polls and prediction markets forecast a vote in Britain to remain within the European Union. This then reversed abruptly when actual returns resulted in a majority...

Rule Britannia? Despite varied news of unsettling events, the stock market continues to trade in a narrow band, about two percent below record highs in the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500. With 2016 almost halfway behind us, these market averages are up one percent so...

A Turning Of The Tide  After tacking back and forth for over a year, the stock market finally broke out of a narrow channel into a new uptrend. Its duration depends on a number of factors, most immediately the Federal Reserve meeting in June, but the renewal of upside vigor is...

Tune In May And Stay To Play In recent months, it has not been easy to make money in stocks. Actually, it never is although strong market surges can create that impression for a while. Such bouts of optimism often pull in the unwary just in time for the next downward dip. In...

Gaining Altitude  Stocks continue their slow climb to altitude. They are fighting persisting headwinds from worries about China, tighter Federal Reserve policies, weak economic growth and collapsing prices of oil and other commodities. The sluggish growth stems back to the...

Earnings Coming Through  The stock market seems to be accepting that spring is really here. Improving earnings reports are boosting the upbeat tempo. Last quarter, companies many squeezed out a small beat on earnings while missing on revenues. Accompanying comments used words...