taper

U.S. stocks were marginally lower as traders and investors begin debating the effects of the markets in an uncertain post Quantitative Easing era. The FOMC has officially tapered the remaining $15 billion of its monthly asset purchases, thus ending the era of quantitative easing for the time...

U.S. stocks were mostly higher as the S&P 500 and Dow continue trading near historical all-time highs. The S&P 500 briefly dipped into negative territory immediately following the Federal Reserves's minutes while the Dow trading lower but stayed in positive territory. The NASDAQ...

U.S. stocks were mixed as the Fed continued to wind down its monthly asset purchase program by another $10 billion. The Fed noted that the economy rebounded in the second quarter despite significant under-utilization remaining in the labor market. As such, the Fed noted, it will maintain a...

U.S. stocks were unable to keep yesterday's momentum and ended the day sharply lower. The Dow suffered yet another triple digit decline with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices shedding more than one percent. In Ben Bernanke's final meeting as Fed chief, the FOMC tapered its monthly bond...

Markets ended the day mixed with the S&P 500 ending a two day losing streak. The Dow ended the day slightly in the negative as several Dow components failed to fully satisfy investor expectations with their earnings today. Investors also digested the latest commentary coming from the Wall...

Investors don't need to be reminded that 2013 was a great year for equities. But how great was it really? These are some facts that solidify 2013 as one of the best bull market years in some time. Looking Back Through 2013The S&P 500 Index rose approximately 29 percent in 2013 beating...

After much anticipation and heavily speculation the Federal Reserve announced a $10 billion per month taper. Treasury purchases will be cut to $40 billion per month with MBS purchases cut to $35 billion per month. The Fed's move shouldn't come as a surprise as recent economic data and...

The day has finally arrived, the Fed has begun its taper. The Fed announced it will continue to make monthly asset purchases, but at a $75 billion per month pace versus the previous $85 billion per month. In the end, the $10 billion taper per month is a drop in the bucket and that is why the...

To the casual observer, the decline of two points on the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), 25 points on the DJIA (NYSE: DIA), and a gain of 0.80 points on the NASDAQ Composite (NYSE: QQQ) might seem to indicate that it had been a pretty dull day at the corner of Broad and Wall on Wednesday. However, once...

The goal of this report, which can oftentimes be classified as a meandering morning market missive, is to identify the primary drivers of the stock market. To be sure, there are certainly times when the drivers of the action are actually quite easy to identify. And then there are days like Tuesday...

The algos, or rather the math geeks that program the algos for the likes of Getco, Goldman, Citadel, Renaissance, and a handful of other banks/hedge funds/HFT outfits that can trade at the speed of light, appear to be a bit confused at the moment. On Thursday, the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)...

Ben Bernanke's Fed surprised the vast majority of investors Wednesday when the FOMC decided not to begin tapering the stimulus being provided to the economy via the monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and mortgage-backed securities. The move came as a surprise because "Gentle Ben" has been "...