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It’s nice to see Duolingo (DUOL) responding well to another very solid earnings release. The company reported that Q2 revenue grew 43.5% to $126.8 million (beating by $3.1 million) while adjusted EPS of $0.08 improved from -$0.38 in the year-ago quarter and beat by $0.27.

The major indexes were having another very quiet (and modestly positive) week before last night, with the Israeli strikes against Iran causing oil prices to spike and the market to take on some water. When looking at the week as a whole, the damage hasn’t been bad (most major indexes are flat to down a bit as of this morning), though obviously what happens from here will be key.

The Middle East flare-up started a week ago today, but so far, the market has been very calm, cool and collected despite differing headlines and rumors. As of this morning, most indexes are green on the week, though by a bit less than 1%.

Coming into Monday, it looked like the market might finally take a hit, as the U.S.’s bombing of Iran threatened to widen the Middle East conflict. Instead, the market quickly found support and it’s been a dandy week, with all the indexes up in the 2.5% to 4% range and with the big-cap measures cozying up to all-time highs.

WHAT TO DO NOW: The news this past weekend that the U.S. and China have slashed tariffs sent the market soaring yesterday. Of course, there are still headwinds out there (Cabot Trend Lines not yet positive, relatively few new highs among growth stocks), and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a pullback now that the “good” news is out.

As I do periodically over long holiday weekends, I stepped away from the “typical” Monday morning update and spent time with the family. Here is a shorter version of usual weekly update, focused entirely on our current open positions.

As I do periodically over long holiday weekends, I stepped away from the “typical” Monday morning update and spent time with the family. Here is a shorter version of usual weekly update, focused entirely on our current open positions.

We’re now three weeks into this general market consolidation, and from a top-down perspective, it’s been according to plan, with very little giveback (and even some upside testing from the big-cap indexes) even as the market has been hit with some uncertainties (on-again, off-again U.S.-China trade, U.S. debt downgrade, Russia-Ukraine tensions).

HEADS UP: I’m finishing up a soiree with the kiddos so this week’s M&S update will be on the briefer side. I’ll be back at my desk Monday for another Top Ten issue.


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After a tough slide Monday, the market has been very impressive this week, with three straight solid and broad-based gains. Heading into Friday, the S&P is up nearly 4% while the Nasdaq is up more than 5%.

The market bounced back very nicely from the previous week’s losses, ahead of the big Federal Reserve announcement this week. By week’s end the S&P 500 had rallied 3.2%, the Dow added 1.9%, and the Nasdaq rebounded 4.9%.

It’s been a bit of a wobbly week, with most major indexes in the red and more than a few leading stocks easing lower after solid runs. Coming into today, the big-cap indexes are off less than 1%, growth measures are generally off 1% to 2% and some broader indexes (small caps, etc.) are off a bit more.

Ahead of a monster week of economic data and earnings releases the S&P 500 fell 0.85%, the Dow lost 2.6%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.4%

Led by an awful week for the Semiconductors (down 11%), the S&P 500 fell 3.62% last week, while the Dow lost 2.42%, and the Nasdaq dropped another 5.5%.

The names change each time, but every era has a surge of hollow, hyper-growth stocks that reach the stratosphere before crashing back to earth. These 2 rules will help you avoid them.

We had been writing about some of the secondary yellow flags that had been popping up of late, mainly due to the incredible rise in many growth stocks in both price (well above moving averages) and time (the biggest winners got going back in September), as well as near-term sentiment (getting giddy, not just with growth stocks but everything post-election).

With the calendar flipping to 2025 and the long holiday weeks/weekends behind us, most traders will be back at their desks starting yesterday. Let the fun begin!

Happy New Year! The market’s stance didn’t change much during the past couple weeks of 2024—big-cap indexes are trying to hang in there, but the vast majority of the market and growth stocks had a rough December. The equal-weight S&P 500, for instance, fell a whopping 6.6% on the month, and many growth measures were down about the same (if not a bit more).

The holiday-shortened week yielded more gains for the leading indexes as traders ready themselves for the close of 2024. Here is how our positions performed last week.

It was another interesting week for the market as the Nasdaq rallied 3.3%, while the S&P 500 added 1% and the Dow fell 0.6%. That is quite the performance difference between the Nasdaq and Dow!

It’s been a mixed week for the market, with the big-cap indexes doing well and many leading growth titles again showing strength, but the broad market and many sectors were sluggish (not awful, just down some) and we have started to see a few leaders here and there that have begun to wobble.