A man in a surgical mask walks by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after more cases of coronavirus were confirmed in New York City, New York, U.S., March 10, 2020. Andrew Kelly | Reuters Next week brings an end, mercifully, to the first half of 2020. That’s the good news. The bad news: Wall
Trader Talk
Good news for investors: Your broker-dealer is going to have to disclose a lot more about what he or she is advising you to buy or sell. Regulation Best Interest, or Reg BI, is coming into effect June 30 after more than two years of controversy and discussion. It requires broker-dealers — those who
In this photo illustration a Robinhood Markets logo seen displayed on a smartphone. Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images The interest in beaten-up stocks in energy, travel and leisure is taking some, well, bizarre turns. I’ve written recently about the importance of retail traders in the recent rally, but the interest
A trader walks by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the first day that traders are allowed back onto the historic floor of the exchange on May 26, 2020 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images The stunning jobs report caps a near-perfect week for market bulls. Three main “buckets” have moved
The New York Stock Exchange trading floor, closed since March 23, is partially reopening on Tuesday. “I’m ready,” floor trader Jonathan Corpina of Meridian Equity Partners said. “We have been waiting a long time, we are prepared. Our customers are ready.” Corpina acknowledged some trepidation about returning, a feeling of “walking into the unknown.” “For
The New York Stock Exchange floor is reopening — sort of. The decision to partially reopen the floor on May 26, which has been closed since March 23, involved a complicated stew of business, legal and medical issues that many larger businesses throughout the United States will be facing —particularly those where people are required
Retail investors are trading more. The move to $0 commissions is likely a major factor. But there are more things occurring to encourage retail trading, including stay-at-home orders and market volatility. Add it all up and you get electronic brokers reporting trading volumes that are up 100% year over year. In the first quarter alone,
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, April 26, 2020. Jeena Moon | Reuters With one-third of S&P 500 companies declining to provide guidance, picking winners and losers has become a very delicate business. How
A cyclist passes a boarded up store during the coronavirus pandemic on April 28, 2020 in New York City. John Lamparski | Getty Images April’s 12% rally in the S&P 500 has been based largely on hopes for a reopening of the U.S. economy, but if you want to know how fragile the reopening may
A United Parcel Service worker delivers packages on April 29, 2020 in New York City. Stephanie Keith | Getty Images Half of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings for the first quarter and this has been the strangest earnings season imaginable. Consider: Global activity has ground to a halt in some sectors, but
A woman walks in the rain outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York, April 13, 2020. Andrew Kelly | Reuters I know this sounds strange, but this was a good day for the stock market, even with
Long-time professional traders watching the near implosion of the United States Oil Fund could only watch in wonder. “It tells me people always want to make a quick buck,” said John Davi, chief investment officer and founder of Astoria Portfolio Advisors. He was referring to retail investors who lost a boatload of money investing in
The crude oil tanker, Chemtrans Cancale, is seen anchored off shore as it waits to dock at Port Everglades on April 20, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images “Know what you own” is an old adage when investing, but it is especially important when owning investments that hold futures contracts. Just
The number of companies withdrawing or declining to provide earnings guidance continues to grow, with Abbott, ConocoPhillips, Jack in the Box, GoPro, and Bed Bath & Beyond in just the last couple days. JPMorgan, in a note to clients, said that so far 86 S&P 500 companies have suspended earnings guidance. Not surprisingly, some in
Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, rings the opening bell to celebrate the 75th anniversary of his company’s listing at the New York Stock Exchange, September 17, 2019. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Johnson & Johnson surprised investors with a modest dividend increase of 6.3%, followed by Procter & Gamble, which raised its
JPMorgan kicks off earnings season on Tuesday. The bad news: Short-term guidance will be very ugly. But there’s some good news: 1) The Securities and Exchange Commission has told corporations that this earnings season is not routine and has encouraged companies to provide forward-looking guidance, and not be concerned that the information may change rapidly.
Charging Bull Statue is seen at the Financial District in New York City, United States on March 29, 2020. Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The week started with a roar. At the open Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up almost 10% for the week. Investors were positively giddy about three events: 1)
Art Cashin David A. Grogan | CNBC Art Cashin, head of floor trading for UBS, has been a beloved market commentator for many decades and a regular commentator on CNBC for more than 20 years. Cashin was in a car accident in early February (he was not driving) and has been recuperating. We spoke to
A barista packs a coffee for online sales at a Luckin Coffee store in Beijing, China July 17, 2018. Jason Lee | Reuters Here we go again. It sounds outrageous: The chief operating officer of Luckin Coffee, the largest domestic coffee chain in the China, was accused by his own company of fabricating much of
The entrance to a Macy’s department store. Jeffrey Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Macy’s is being dropped from the S&P 500, and in a sign of how far the fortunes of the retail space have fallen amid the coronavirus-related shutdowns, it is not being demoted to the mid-cap S&P 400, it’s being
George Milling-Stanley has sometimes been referred to as the “godfather” of the gold business. While at the World Gold Council, he was one of a small group that helped create the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) in 2004, now the world’s largest gold exchange-traded fund with over $50 billion in assets. He is now chief gold
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), has become one of the most widely watched indicators of market sentiment in the world. In theory, it works on a simple principle: It is a measure of the stock market’s expectation of volatility over the following 30 days based on near-term S&P 500 index options, both puts and calls.
A man cleans up on the trading floor, following traders testing positive for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 19, 2020. Lucas Jackson | Reuters There was considerable trepidation among trading desks over the weekend as many in California, New York, and Massachusetts were told to
For everyone trying to figure out what S&P 500 earnings will be in 2020, here’s a sobering comment from Joseph Wolk, Johnson & Johnson’s chief financial officer: “One thing I know for certain is we’re going to be 100% precisely wrong.” Wolk made the comment to The Wall Street Journal in reference to earnings guidance,
A pedestrian walks past the Federal Reserve building on Constitution Avenue in Washington on March 19, 2019. Leah Millis | Reuters The Federal Reserve pulled out another series of bazookas today, including a flurry of programs to buy more Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. But one move that surprised many was the decision to buy corporate
Traders, some in medical masks, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 20, 2020 in New York City. Trading on the floor will temporarily become fully electronic starting on Monday to protect employees from spreading the coronavirus. The Dow fell over 500 points on Friday as investors continue to
Call it part of the grand blame game: Markets are down big, so it must be someone’s fault. Exchange traded funds. High-frequency traders. Short sellers. In Europe, they have already figured out whose fault it is: Short sellers! In the past week, several European countries, including Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Greece–have banned short selling
Health professionals stand at the entrance to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to check the temperature of everyone entering on March 16, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images The country may be prepared to shut its schools, concerts, sporting events, shops, and even
A man in a surgical mask walks by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after more cases of coronavirus were confirmed in New York City, New York, U.S., March 10, 2020. Andrew Kelly | Reuters What would happen if the New York Stock Exchange floor is forced to closed? For decades, the NYSE has had
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the opening bell on March 10, 2020 in New York. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images We have touched an intraday 20% decline in the S&P 500 that many associate with bear market territory. We also hit a bear market on