Huge volume today but not much movement

Huge volume today but not much movement

Just five minutes before Wall Street’s close, the Standard & Poor’s 500 erased a slide that earlier in the session exceeded 1%. The index closed up 0.08% on the day. The NASDAQ Composite added 0.52%. The CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 2.63% to...
More bad news in another consumer sentiment survey

More bad news in another consumer sentiment survey

The Conference Board’s measure of consumer confidence fell this month by the most since August 2021. The Conference Board’s index fell 7 points in February to 98.3, marking the third straight decline, data released Tuesday showed. The figure was below all estimates in...
Even the best retail stocks aren’t beating fears of a slowdown: I’m selling Walmart and Costco

Finally some good news on inflation due this week

Economists expect the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure–due Friday–to cool to the slowest pace since June. But while I think markets will cheer, it’s too soon to look for any change from the Federal Reserve on interest rate cuts. That will have...
China readies antitrust probe of Apple

China readies antitrust probe of Apple

China’s antitrust watchdog, the State Administration for Market Regulation, is laying the groundwork for a potential probe into Apple’s (AAPL) app store policies and the fees it charges app developers. Apple policies under scrutiny include the cut of as much as 30% on...
Budget circus comes to Congress

Budget circus comes to Congress

I expect a two-ring (at least) circus this week on Capitol Hill as Congress confronts two years worth of budgets. By law, the President is required to submit a budget for the next fiscal year–in this case the 2026 fiscal year that begins on October 1...
Wall Street still in denial on tariffs

Wall Street still in denial on tariffs

Futures markets are substantially lower as U.S. stocks get ready to open. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 were down 1.64% and NASDAQ futures were off 1.87%. But I still say that Wall Street is in denial about the full economic damage from President Donald...