Market Insights
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Surprise Deals Lift Stocks Before Powell Speech
Unexpected dealmaking is lifting stocks as investors brace for a key event on Friday.
Stocks Hold Their Ground But Face a Series of Potential Risks as Ukraine Crisis Rages
Stocks inched higher last week but face a potential minefield of geopolitical risk and economic events in coming days. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent between Friday, February 18, and Friday, February 25. It was the first positive week in the last three, but the...
The Economy May Be Accelerating Before the State of the Union and Powell’s Testimony This Week
It's been almost exactly two years since the coronavirus pandemic hammered the global economy. And now things may be finally returning to normal -- just in time for some big events in coming days. Consider some of these reports last week: The Commerce Department...
Russian Attack Triggers Surprise Rally Across the Beaten Down Nasdaq-100
Russia attacked Ukraine early on Thursday. After an initial panic, investors had an interesting response: They piled into software and technology stocks that took a beating over the last two months. Take a company like Microsoft (MSFT), which pushed under $272 in the...
Technical Analysis: Is This Social Media Stock Overbought After an Earnings Rally?
Snap had a sharp rally on February 4 after quarterly results beat estimates. But now its longer-term downtrend may be reasserting itself. The first pattern on today’s chart is the stochastic oscillator. It’s swinging back to the downside after jumping into overbought...
Inflation Good, Inflation Bad: Price Spirals Are Splitting Consumer Stocks
It's the best of times and worst of times for consumer stocks, thanks to the fastest inflation in 40 years. Companies like Kraft Heinz (KHC), Tyson Foods (TSN) and Kellogg (K) have advanced in the last two weeks. In the process they've bucked a selloff in the broader...
Stocks Fall Again as Russia and the Fed Keep the Bears Active
Stocks fell again last week as inflation and geopolitical tensions added to a potentially bearish technical picture for big indexes. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6 percent between Friday, February 11 and Friday, February 18. It was the second straight negative week,...
Technology & Communication
Chart of the Day: Is Oracle Attempting a Breakout?
Oracle has performed better than most technology and software companies, and now it may be attempting a breakout. The first pattern on today’s chart is the triangle that took shape in December. Prices ended 2022 slightly above the top, and buyers jumped in yesterday....
Long-Term Bulls Are Active Today: Options Recap
Cell phones and natural gas. Those are some big trades in the options market today. Let's start with Sprint (S), which saw the purchase of 20,000 May 7 calls for $0.50 and the sale of 40,000 May 8 calls for $0.21. It's a little complicated, so here's a breakdown of...
History May Favor Bulls This Quarter, Despite Volatility
Stocks are coming off their worst week since March, but history may favor the bulls. After all, we're in the fourth quarter -- a time of the year with a strong bias to the upside. Consider some of these points we crunched from TradeStation's wealth of chart data: The...
Basics of Hedging, Part 3: Buying Vs. Selling Options
We recently outlined protective puts and covered calls as common hedging techniques. This brings us to the important question of selling options versus buying options. To understand the these two basic kinds of transactions, traders need to recognize the difference...
Nasdaq Gets Slammed as Rates Shoot Higher
Stocks began the fourth quarter in the red as interest rates spiked and money streamed out of the technology sector. The S&P 500 slid 1 percent between Friday, September 28, and Friday, October 5. But that was nothing compared with the Nasdaq-100's 3 percent drop...