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Sterling Market Commentary for September 13th, 2011

September 13, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Look at Monday’s Activity:

The overall market staged a late rally with the Dow Jones Industrial Average moving almost 200 points higher in the final 45 minutes of trading on the day. This was an impressive rally that saw almost every sector index I track move higher on the day. The strongest sectors were the Semiconductors, Banking, High Tech, Retailers, Oil Services, Insurance, Broker/Dealers, Healthcare related, and Consumer indices. There was weakness in the Gold/Silver, Commodities, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Cyclicals, and Transports.

A Few Thoughts Before the Open:

In looking at the charts from yesterday’s trading activity I have the following thoughts and comments.

1. The 1st being that high tech indices were obviously the strongest performers on the day. I believe this is primarily a result of Broadcom’s acquisition of NetLogic for $3.7 billion.

2. Despite the strong move back higher at the end of the day, the vast majority of the indices I looked at simply recovered from a deeply oversold position. However it still left the majority of them with negative chart patterns. I saw nothing to indicate a market rally would start anytime soon.

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Sterling Weekly for the Week of September 12th, 2011

September 12, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

Since the previous edition of the Sterling Weekly the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 248.13 points or approximately 2.2% to 10,992.13 The overall market sold off sharply late last week and looks to be starting this week off with another large move to the downside. The selling right now is being attributed to the European sovereign debt crisis. This is a very legitimate cause of market concern, but in my opinion it is not the sole reason for our market downturn. The other major issue effecting the market that is not currently getting as much attention as it deserves is the slowing economic growth rate……………………

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Market Commentary for September 12th, 2011

September 12, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

The markets are obviously under pressure due to the continuing sovereign debt problems in Europe. The fact that the Europeans are having these problems should come as no surprise to anyone. A big portion of the current phase of the European sovereign debt crisis is an unwillingness of voters on both sides of the table to go along with the bailout program. In our June Market Commentary Blog I warned our readers that this could potentially be a big problem.

I think there is a serious possibility that the voters in these debtor countries will be more than willing to drive their own bus off the cliff with the petal to metal, full speed ahead. I am not sure there is much that we, or anyone else outside of these countries can do to prevent this.

A Few Thoughts Before the Open:

The pre-open futures are sharply lower for all the major market indices. It looks like we are in for another day to the downside here in the United States. I think today is a good time to take a look at the support levels on the various indices I have writing about recently. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is the most significant market index in the United States, it is the leader to which all other indices march.

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September 9th, 2011

September 9, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

The overall market moved moderately lower yesterday in a broad based move that saw the majority of the sector indices I track move lower on the day. The weakest sectors were the Broker/Dealers, Banking, Cyclicals, Insurance, Airlines, High Tech, Chemcials, and Pharmaceuticals. The rest of the sector indices I track moved lower as well with the exception of the Gold/Silver index which posted a small gain on the day.

Oil was lower by $0.29 to $89.05 per barrel, and Gold was higher by $40.30 to $1,855.20 per ounce. A friend of mine pointed out last night that every time the Bernanke speaks Gold rises by a minimum of $25 that day. Wheat was lower by $0.134 to $7.38 per bushel, Corn was lower by $0.14 to $7.34 per bushel, and Soybeans were lower by $0.024 to $14.18 per bushel.

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Market Commentary – September 8th, 2011

September 8, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

The overall market moved sharply higher yesterday in a broad based move that saw basically every sector index I track move higher on the day. The strongest sectors were the Banking, High Tech, Insurance, Broker/Dealers, Transports, Airlines, Biotech, and Cyclicals. Oil was higher by $3.32 to $89.34 per barrel, and Gold was sharply lower by $55.70 to $1,814.90 per ounce. Wheat was lower by $0.084 to $7.51 per bushel, and Corn was lower by $0.076 to $7.48 per bushel.

I know the Dow Jones Industrial Average staged an impressive 275 point rally on the day, but I just don’t see any justification for the move. I didn’t really see any news to justify the move higher other than the German court decision stating that Germany can proceed with its part in the Greek bailout, but the court’s decision basically stated that every phase of the bailout would require authorization by the German parliament. Considering that the German Chancellor’s party has lost every local election since agreeing to the bailout terms ………….

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Market Commentary – September 7th, 2011

September 7, 2011 sterlinginvestments 0

A Few Thoughts Before the Open:

In looking at the charts from yesterday’s trading activity it is clear that the vast majority of the sector indices and individual stocks have negative chart pattern. However, the negative open yesterday followed by the intra-day rally more or less made it very difficult to find any trading ideas for the day. Combine that with the positive futures at the time of the writing of this post and I am going to sit the day out. My thoughts are that we need 1 or 2 more trading days to shake things out for the post-Labor Day market.

Additionally I am having a hard time to find anything to be positive about this morning. The European crisis has not been resolved, and it has not been resolved. In looking at the news posts on the Sterling Reporter it is clear that the voters in Europe are not happy with the politicians solutions to the crisis. The voters in Germany don’t like the idea of