The dash for trash has hit a speed bump. Stocks faltered again this past week as the early-year rally, led by rebounds in 2022’s speculative-grade losers, ran into resistance from higher expected inte...
Tag: Stock Market Commentary
Bed Bath & Beyond Ponders Bankruptcy, Exciting the Meme Crowd
What were shareholders thinking? Shares of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond zoomed 179%, to $3.49 this past week, despite the retailer warning of a possible bankruptcy. One explanation: Meme stock mania...
The Bulls’ Worst Recession Fear: There Won’t Be One
“There ain’t gonna be no recession,” Pierre Rinfret, an economist who once advised the Nixon administration, confidently declared in December 1969. Better at attracting publicity than forecasting, he ...
Stocks Could Return About 10% in 2023—But First, They’re Going to Fall
For U.S. investors, 2023 could seem like two years wrapped in one, with the stock market first falling in anticipation of a recession, only to rebound as the outlook improves toward 2024. The one cons...
It’s Been a Rough Year for Stocks and Bonds. What to Do in 2023.
With more than a month to go, 2022 is all but certain to go down as an annus horribilis for both stocks and bonds. The crucial question for investors: What does that portend for the year ahead? The re...
Don’t Expect the Stock Market to Rally, Even if GOP Wins Control of Congress
The outcome of the midterm elections on Nov. 8 could disappoint investors, regardless of which party they support. According to Wall Street lore, stocks usually perform strongly following the midterms...
Mystery Stock Surge Is Probably Just Another Bear Market Rally
Listen to article (2 minutes) With volatility comes opportunity. And what volatility! Thursday saw the biggest intraday gain in the S&P 500 since the wild swings as stocks were approaching their l...
Bulls Get Scorched by FedEx. Don’t Expect the Fed to Help.
Text size FedEx’s disappointing earnings and unexpectedly weak guidance were key factors in this past week’s stock market swoon. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg The stock market faces a doubly poisonous c...
The Stock Market Rallied on Hopes That Rate Hikes Will Soon Wind Down
Text size While the markets and many consumers are worried about inflation, other people, like these skaters at Rockefeller Center in New York, are still spending. Richard Levine/Alamy Markets can sta...
Stock Outlook Brightens as Jobs Stay Strong, Commodities Prices Decline
Text size The jobless rate held steady at 3.6% in June. Above, looking for work at a job fair in Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images The economy looks resilient, and inflation is coming down. That combin...
This Rally Could Force the Fed to Raise Rates Higher
The markets make the news, not the other way around, an insight that has been quite humbling to one who has made a living by reporting and analyzing the impact of news on financial markets. Consider t...
How Low Could the S&P 500 Sink? According to History, 3000.
Text size The fall in stock and bond prices has cut household wealth by as much as $8 trillion in 2022. Justin Lane/epa-efe/Shutterstock The stock market had a near-bear experience, which might be the...
The Bear Nears and Might Not Exit Stocks Until the S&P Sinks to 3000
Text size The fall in stock and bond prices has cut household wealth by as much as $8 trillion in 2022. Justin Lane/epa-efe/Shutterstock The stock market had a near-bear experience, which might be the...
Stocks Nearly Entered a Bear Market. What History Says Happens Next.
Text size Everything in the markets seemed on the verge of collapse this week. NYSE It’s the moment of truth for stocks—and investors might not enjoy what comes next. For a moment this past week, the ...
There Could Be More Downside Ahead for the Stock Market
It could be very difficult for Powell and the Fed to tame inflation without causing an economic slowdown. Photo illustration by Barron’s staff; (reference) Dreamstime (5) Text size Like Winnie t...
The Stock Market Looks Like a Bear. How to Avoid Getting Eaten.
It could be very difficult for Powell and the Fed to tame inflation without causing an economic slowdown. Photo illustration by Barron’s staff; (reference) Dreamstime (5) Text size Like Winnie t...
What Will Stocks Do if War—or Peace—Erupts in Ukraine?
Text size A Ukrainian guard at a checkpoint on the border with Russia. There could be a financial toll, as well as a heavy human one, if the Kremlin launches an invasion. Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Ukrinf...
Inflation, Interest-Rate Jitters, and Putin Are Brewing a Fierce Storm for the Stock Market
Text size A Ukrainian soldier in the Kharkiv region near the Russian border. Will Putin pull the trigger on an invasion? Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images We were waist deep in the Big Muddy, and the big ...
The Jobs Report Reveals a Booming Labor Market. Here’s Where Interest Rates Are Headed.
Text size President Joe Biden speaking about the January jobs report. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Good news for Main Street, not so good news for Wall Street. Once again, a booming labor market is like...
Forget About Inflation. Contrarians Expect a Recession and a Drop in Bond Yields.
“Something that everyone knows isn’t worth knowing,” as the famed financier Bernard Baruch once observed. And so I was reminded by a long discourse in the New York Times this past week on why bond yie...
Stock Market Suffers Worst Week Since 2020. Here’s What Comes Next.
Text size The decline has been painful for investors who have been trained to buy on the dips. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg A bad start to 2022 just got a whole lot worse. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ...
Generous Bond Yields Prove There Is an Alternative to Stocks
Return with us to ancient times, when dinosaurs ruled, at least in technology terms. It was early 2007, when Blackberries were in everybody’s mitts and the first iPhone hadn’t yet gone on sale, let al...