Chart of the Week

The Stock Market Could Be Turbulent During Present Earnings Blackout Period. As the chart below illustrates, a great many public companies are entering blackout periods before regular quarterly results announcements. The blackout periods prevent companies and insiders from buying or selling their own stock based on inside information about earnings results not available to everyone…

The Growth of “Covenant Lite Loans” and Potential Big Risk to the Stock and Bond Markets and the Economy. “This will end poorly,” says Anton Pill, managing partner at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.  What he was referring to is the tremendous growth  (see charts below) of highly risky so-called “covenant lite loans,” which carry hefty…

Stock Market Analysts Keep Downgrading 2019 Earnings Estimates.  Ultimately stock prices are driven by earnings. Stock analysts have been downgrading 2019 estimates on company operating earnings (see the charts below). As a result,  a clear warning that the markets this year will become increasingly treacherous. But why hasn’t the market done worse?  In fact, there…

Just Take My Money.  The following commentary and Chart are  from our friend Jason Goepfert of SentimenTrader.com. The Wall Street Journal noted that there was a surge in blank-check IPOs last year. These are open-ended stock market securities where investors give money to the operators to basically do whatever they want. We only see demand for these securities during periods in…

Shifting tides in the ETF Market?  The following commentary and Charts are  from our friend Kevin Duffy of Bearing Asset Management, LLC. Morningstar just released active vs. passive fund flows data for January.  There was a remarkable turnaround: Whether or not this is the start of a trend, it’s worth keeping an eye on.  I believe…