The U.S. stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.73%, had finally broken out over triple resistance at 4100, on Feb. 1. But the S&P 500 has had trouble adding to that breakout. Instead, the market has pulled back and retested what is now support at 4100 numerous times this week. So … Read more
The Biden administration’s new stock buyback tax will have little impact on the overall stock market. It might even actually help it. I’m referring to the new 1% excise tax on share repurchases that went into effect on Jan. 1. This tax has set off alarm bells in some corners of Wall Street, on the … Read more
Fifteen years ago, in the first quarter of 2007, U.S. housing prices were at an all-time high. According to the St. Louis Fed, the median price for a home was $257,400, a record. The Fed was raising interest rates. After a series of rate hikes, the Fed funds rate reached 5.25%, its highest point in … Read more
The Federal Reserve should declare an immediate cease fire in its war against inflation and hold its benchmark interest rate steady instead of raising the federal funds by a half percentage point to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%, as expected at its meeting that ends Wednesday. With the relatively benign report on the consumer … Read more
Shares of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have traded lower since early December, but investors have not been attracted to the long side. Unfortunately further declines look likely in the months ahead. Let’s check on the charts. In this daily bar chart of AMD, below, we can see that prices have made a … Read more
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stepped up its aggressive fight against high inflation by agreeing to the third straight super-sized increase in interest rates and signaling more big hikes before the end of the year. Officials said they would raise their benchmark federal-funds by 0.75 percentage point to a range of 3% to 3.25%. They … Read more