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For the first time in a while, it’s actually been a relatively quiet week—the major indexes are hovering around breakeven on the week, though broader indexes are up 1%-ish and the lagging growth areas have gotten off their knees, with many of those funds up 2% to 3% or so. It’s just a start, but that’s good to see.

After a wild couple of weeks where technology stocks corrected, down 10% or more from the high, and the S&P 500 fell 10% on an intraday basis, investors nervously await the Fed this afternoon. The chairman will show us the way. He knows everything.

Stocks are deep in the red today following some high-profile earnings duds—as of 1 pm ET, the Dow is down 334 points, and the Nasdaq is off 387 points.

The market meltdown is continuing today, and while it’s being led by growth stocks, the selling is spreading out to every nook and cranny of the market—as of 12:30 eastern, the Dow is down 511 points while the Nasdaq is cratering another 350 points.

As we continue to balance the pursuit of opportunities with the desire to preserve capital/current gains we’re intently focused on stocks that are breaking down to new lows. Today we’ll take partial profits on another name and step completely away from one stock.

This has been another extremely challenging week. Yesterday the Nasdaq opened in the green and was up over 2% before selling off hard into the close. It ended down more than 1%. Today, the Nasdaq is toying with a somewhat key technical level at 14,000.

This week certainly wasn’t the maelstrom last week was, but after a promising bounce following Monday morning’s wipeout, the sellers have come back around for things—on the week, the major indexes are lower, though the declines aren’t horrific, especially for broader indexes like small and mid-caps.

Well, the market’s small dose of good action for the second half of December was mauled by the bears this week—all indexes are down at least somewhat, and among growth-oriented titles from a variety of sectors (tech, cybersecurity, solar, software, retail, you name it), it’s been nothing short of a mini-crash, with the Nasdaq down 3.5%, growth-oriented indexes down 5% or more and many individual titles off 15% to 20%.

We comment on recent earnings reports and other company-specific news about our recommended stocks, and include some thoughts on cryptocurrencies and the current burndown in momentum stocks.

In a recent update, I used the phrase, “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” as I reasoned that the marijuana sector’s dreadful performance in 2021 was likely the prelude to a well-deserved rebound in 2022. And the news is still pretty dark.

After falling 34% in record time, the S&P 500 has recouped more than half of the losses. As of this writing, the market is down just 15% from the February highs. The S&P 500 is now back to the same level it was at this past October. Clearly the market is optimistic about the speed and strength of the economic restart. And the market usually gets it right.

These are the dog days of summer. It’s a rare time of year when a certain degree of slackery is not only tolerated, but expected. People tend to focus on enjoying the waning days of summer. More serious issues and considerations get postponed until after Labor Day.

There is good news out there. The country is starting to reopen the economy. Sure, there is a political debate, and certain hot spots aren’t ready to reopen yet. But the urgent push to restart this economy is undeniable.

The final tally is in, and it was a November for the ages. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 11.8% for November, making it the best month for the index since 1987. The S&P 500 climbed 10% while the Nasdaq gained another 11% for the month. History clearly shows that November was a spectacular month. What happened?

The market is still solid. The bad news and uncertainty hasn’t dragged it down in any significant way. Investors still see the prize of a rapidly recovering economy and the pandemic fading. While I see very good days ahead for the post election and post pandemic market, there may be some rough seas ahead in the near term.

Fear of the spread of a new virus has devolved into an economic disaster, at least in the short term.

For the third straight week the market has rallied on the news of another coronavirus vaccine with positive late stage trial results.

This year continues to amaze. The market had another big rally this week on news of very positive late-stage trial results for a coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical company Moderna (MRNA). The S&P 500 soared to a new all-time high, the first since early September.