Stocks finished the final trading session of the year on a down note, as all three major domestic indices closed in the red. The downbeat final day was indicative of the lackluster final week of trade, as the Dow was down 0.72% while the S&P 500 finished 0.83% lower. The NASDAQ Composite closed out the […]

It’s Christmas day and, by the time you read this, chances are that either you have already opened the presents or you will sometime later today. While I certainly hope your celebration was replete with the joy of giving and receiving gifts to and from friends and family, there are a few holiday presents that

In last week’s Hotline, we mentioned that Santa Claus didn’t have much time left if he wanted to bring a little bullish cheer to Wall Street. Well, this week Santa finally found the corner of Wall and Broad, as he rained down a gain of 2.76% for the S&P 500 in this holiday-shortened week. The […]

The Fed finally did it. This week, the central bank raised the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points, the first increase in the benchmark interest rate in more than nine years. It also marks the end of the zero-interest rate policy, or ZIRP, era. While a quarter percentage point hike isn’t really a material […]

Janet Yellen and company just served up a platter consisting of a 25-basis-point increase in the cost of capital. Now the market is trying to digest that decision. As I’m sure you know by now, this was the first increase in the Federal Funds rate in more than nine years. It also marks the end

Click here to read this special report.

Click here to read this special report.

Stocks finished a tough week with big losses on Friday, as the major indices hit a serious oil slick. A precipitous plunge in the price of crude oil of more than 11% slammed risk assets, including high-yield debt, the commodity space and domestic equities. When the final bell sounded on the week, the Dow finished […]

About this time each year, the markets are historically treated to a visit from that corpulent bull, Santa Claus. Yet the proverbial Santa Claus rally has yet to materialize on Wall Street this year. And though the narrower, official definition of a Santa Claus rally consists of the last five trading days in December and

It was a big week for market-moving news, as central bank intentions and likely outcomes took center stage. Early this week the European Central Bank (ECB) announced it was cutting deposit rate to minus 0.3% from minus 0.2% in an effort to force banks to lend money and thereby stimulate the EU economy. That move […]