Blog – Page 12 – Sterling Holdings & Investments

Sterling Market Commentary for Friday January 27th, 2012

January 27, 2012 sterlinginvestments 0

The overall market is rather dull right now; something I find rather interesting considering the Fed’s recent announcement of prolonged ultra-low interest rates and what I consider to be rather good corporate earnings announcements. I take this to be a sign that investors are not really to enthused about the prospects for the world economy for 2012. While it is tempting to call for a market pullback, there is an old saying about never short a dull market. While my 1st Rule of Trends is that a trend remains in place until it is broken; my 2nd Rule of Trends is ……….

Sterling Market Commentary for Thursday January 26th, 2012

January 26, 2012 sterlinginvestments 0

I will admit I am just not enthused about much of anything this morning. I am deeply disappointed by the negative campaigning by the Republican candidates, I think Obama’s election year politics are going to be deeply destructive, and the Bernanke’s Fed is creating a bond bubble and in the process enabling disasterous policies that could make the 2008 financial crisis look like a warmup event. Additionally I do not see the European financial crisis as really being solved, or anything close to it. I guess I am just in one those moods.

Sterling Market Commentary for Wednesday January 25th, 2012

January 25, 2012 sterlinginvestments 0

A Few Thoughts on Wednesday’s Market: In looking at the charts from yesterday’s trading activity I noticed that it looks like the NASDAQ 100 ‘NDX’ has entered an area of upside resistance that could be tough to get through. Additionally the very vast majority of the sector indices I track are not confirming the move higher by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Granted I expect the NASDAQ to be higher today due to the incredible earnings by Apple, Inc. ‘AAPL’. However…………….

Sterling Market Commentary for January 24th, 2012

January 24, 2012 sterlinginvestments 0

It should be noted that on Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 12,720.48 Last summer the Dow closed at 12,724.41 on July 21st, and at 12,719.49 on July 7th. This is significant because if we see the Dow Jones Industrial Average moves back lower from these levels, then we will effectively have put in place a “triple top,” which should be considered a significant point of upside resistance. It should also be noted that this move higher has not been confirmed by the either the……………………

Sterling Market Commentary for October 20th, 2011

October 20, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Look at Wednesday’s Market Activity: The overall market moved moderately lower in a broad based move that saw every sector index I track move lower as well. The weakest sectors were the Gold/Silver, High Tech, Banking, Broker/Dealer, Chemicals, Oil Services, Commodities, and Transports. In the commodities, Oil was lower by $2.24 to $86.29 and Gold was lower by $5.80 to $1,647 per ounce. In the grain market, Wheat was lower by $.056 to $6.194 per bushel, and Corn was lower by $0.054 to $6.384 per bushel, while Soybeans were lower by $0.256 to $12.25 per bushel.

Sterling Market Commentary for October 19th, 2011

October 19, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Few Thoughts Before the Open: In looking at the charts from yesterday’s trading activity I have the following thoughts and comments.

1. Trading volume continues to be light. This causes me concern over the strength of the rally.

2. Several of the sector indices I am looking at indicate that they could be in the process of breaking out to the upside.

3. This is option’s expiration week. As I have written about in the past, I have seen a common trend of the market reversing its previous trend during options expiration week, and then resuming its prior trend at the start of the new options month. I believe this is a result of …….

Sterling Market Commentary for October 18th, 2011

October 18, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Look at Monday’s Activity: The overall market moved sharply lower Monday in a broad based move that saw every sector index I track move lower on the day. The weakest sectors were the Banking, Oil Services, Cyclicals, High Tech, Insurance, Commodities, Broker/Dealers, and Transports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 212 points. Among the Dow 30 the weakest stocks were Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard, 3M, and United Technologies. In the commodity sector, Oil was lower by $0.38 to $86.62 per barrel, and Gold was lower by $6.40 to $1,676.60 per ounce. In the grains, Wheat was higher by $0.014 to $6.242 per bushel, and Corn was higher by $0.004 to $6.404 per bushel, while Soybeans were lower by $0.17 to $12.53 per bushel.

Sterling Weekly for the Week of October 17th, 2011 – Time to Start the Inflation Watch

October 18, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

Time to Start the Inflation Watch: The economy continues to be a major topic of conversation for most of the country. The European Debt Crisis continues to be a major talking point and news item. However, I have serious concerns that the European Crisis while very severe in nature is also distracting us from our own economic problems here in the United States. Our economy has stagnated as a businesses adopt a defensive posture over concerns about rising regulatory costs and general uncertainty. Additonally you do not need to talk to anyone in business for too long before they start to voice concerns about rising inflation as a result of the sky-high budget deficits being run by the Federal government……In case you think I am barking at moon or crying wolf, I took a look at our current expenses and compared them to five years ago. In our household we have seen a 40% increse in our….

Sterling Market Commentary for October 17th, 2011

October 17, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Few Thoughts Before the Open: In looking at the charts from Friday’s market activity I have the following thoughts and comments.

1. Volume was very light across the board. On an average morning I review the charts on approximately 40 indexes, all the stocks setting new yearly highs, and all stocks that traded more than 1 million shares the day before. In looking at the charts from Friday’s activity, I saw nothing that broke out to the upside that had a volume confirmation. That alone should be a warning bell for the upcoming market.

2. In looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average it is interesting to note that Friday’s close appears to have been pretty much right on the 200 day moving average.

Sterling Market Commentary for October 14th, 2011

October 14, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

The overall market was rather dull yesterday. It reminds me of an old saying about never shorting a dull market. It looks like we may be seeing a rally in the high tech sector as many of the high tech indices put in good performances yesterday. However while it is very tempting to declare the start of a market rally, which may be the case; I continue to stand by convictions that we need to see a close above 11,613.53 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in order to confirm a breakout from the sideways pattern we’ve been in since mid-August.