With the way the week started you might of thought that the bears might of got the upper hand on stocks. However, strong earnings continue to bode well for the markets. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) gained 1.53%, the Nasdaq (chart) +2.29%, the S&P 500 (chart) +1.8% and the Russell 2000 (chart) notched a gain of 2.66%.

I believe that the markets can thank Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) which once again blew out earnings in their most recent quarter. Apple earned a staggering $12.30 per share while netting $11.6 billion. This propelled stocks on Wednesday, especially tech stocks. Now if Apple wasn’t enough, Amazon.con (NasdaqGS: AMZN) reported their earnings after the close on Thursday and also blew out estimates by earning $130 million or 28 cents a share compared to the projected 7 cents a share that most analysts expected.

One other factor that certainly didn’t hurt equities was the Federal Reserve’s reiteration of their accommodative monetary policy by indicating that rates will continue to remain low well into 2014. So with a strong earnings reporting season continuing and a friendly Fed, we might just witness new highs in the coming weeks?

Good luck to all 🙂

~George

Stocks held their own this week thanks to a good start to Q1 corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) finished up 1.4%, the S&P 500 (chart) +0.60%, the Russell 2000 (chart) +0.96% and the Nasdaq (chart) actually lost a bit of ground falling a modest 0.36%. This however was the third straight weekly decline for the tech heavy Nasdaq.

Next week hundreds of companies will be reporting their first quarter results, but all eyes will most certainly be on everyone’s favorite stock, Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS: AAPL). Apple reports their earnings on Tuesday after the close and needless to say, this will be a market mover, at least for the Nasdaq. After surging an astonishing 77% since late November, the seemingly untouchable Apple has lost over 10% of it’s value over the past two weeks. So the question now is “is this a normal and heathy correction in Apple’s stock?” or a preview of more downside to come? If you are a technician and long the stock, you were very pleased that on Friday the stock held and closed above its 50-day moving average. However, with Tuesday’s earnings report on the horizon, I think for now you can throw all of the technical analysis out and wait to see how their quarterly results look.

If I were to take a side and as I continue to see all of the metrics point to a bullish quarter, this should be yet another earnings blowout for the company. But as I have learned over the years, it is always best to have a wait and see approach, listen to the conference call, see how the stock trades and then make a decision. Good luck to all.

Have a great weekend 🙂

~George

For the second straight week the major averages closed in the red. However, this past week the selling expanded and accelerated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) closed the week down 1.61%, the Nasdaq (chart) -2.25%, the S&P 500 (chart) -1.99% and the small-cap barometer Russell 2000 (chart) -2.68%. This week’s market declines occurred despite aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE: AA) kicking off first quarter earnings reporting season with a solid earnings report.

Speaking of earnings reporting season, next week a slew of earnings reports are scheduled to be issued from the likes of Citigroup (NYSE: C), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) just to name a few.

Needless to say, first quarter earnings reporting season should confirm whether or not the bears will be coming out of hibernation. Good luck to all.

Have a great weekend 🙂

~George

The four key indices lost ground this holiday shortened trading week which seemingly was spawned by the Federal Reserve’s indication the further quantitative easing may no longer be in the cards. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) lost 1.15%, the Nasdaq (chart) -0.36%, the S&P 500 (chart) -0.74% and the Russell 2000 (chart) on the week pulled back the most declining 1.46%. The markets were closed yesterday in recognition of Good Friday, however, the March jobs report was released as scheduled and hiring for the month of March came in far less than economists expected. The economy added 120,000 jobs compared to the 200,000 plus expected by most.

I am expecting a knee jerk reaction to the downside from the markets on Monday and it will be interesting to see if stocks can shrug this economic report off? At the very least, volatility should pick up in earnest this month from not only this report, but from the highly anticipated first quarter earnings reporting season. To me this will be the key catalyst to determine wheter or not this bull keeps running.

Happy Easter 🙂

~George

Simply put, stocks in the first quarter were on fire! This was the best Q1 for stocks in over a decade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) gained over 8%, the Nasdaq (chart) climbed a whopping 18+%, the S&P 500 (chart) +12% and the Russell 2000 (chart) finished the quarter up 12.06%.

These are the best first quarter gains for the key indices since the 90’s. Who would of thought as 2011 ended with the European crises at a breaking point, that our markets here and markets abroad would behave in the manner that they did? I think for the most part we can thank the federal reserve and central banks from around the world for their incessant accommodative monetary policies. One thing for sure is when interest rates are near or at zero,  you are going to be in a bull market regardless of whether or not the economy is expanding. I have got to believe that the short sellers are crying foul from the standpoint that a rising tide lifts all boats and certain stocks or sectors don’t belong elevated the way they are. Nonetheless, there is massive liquidity in the system which certainly bodes well for equities.

The million dollar question now is can this bull keep running? Look no further for that answer other than the upcoming first quarter earnings reporting season. If corporate America can pull off yet another solid earnings reporting season, then we could indeed see the markets continue their march north. However, if top line revenues do not begin to show growth, and companies continue rely on cost cutting measures and other efficiencies to improve their bottom lines, this could be the one catalyst that provides the correction in the markets that most pundits have been anticipating. Good luck to all.

Have a great week 🙂

~George