The S&P 500 Index is looking pretty good right now. It is seemingly trying to break out of its three-month trading range, which is a very positive development for the stock market. Not only are investors coming back to the market because of more certainty towards the European…

Here’s how the story plays out… After a 25-year to 30-year leveraging period, as the credit crisis developed in 2008, a period of great deleveraging was born. Banks, which were once all too happy to lend money to people, some of whom should have never qualified for a…

It’s still one big trading range for the stock market and, with no glaring catalyst for taking action, range-bound trading is more likely to prevail over the near term. The S&P 500 Index has done a good job in recovering over the 1,200 mark, but it is still…

Remember this summer when the Dow Jones Industrial Average had a couple of 400-point loss days and we heard so many stock advisors and analysts tell us we were headed straight into a second recession…that corporate earnings would plummet? Stocks fell 20% from their May 2, 2011, high…

Everything in business is based on confidence—without it, the whole system comes apart. If it’s one thing I’m confident about these days it’s corporate earnings. The stock market will convulse if it wants to, but what’s most important in my mind is what corporations are saying about their…

Earnings season has begun and, while not perfect, two important technology companies reported solid results. Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ/ORCL) beat consensus with its latest numbers and guided its next quarter higher on surprisingly strong software sales to corporate customers. This is very good news for the entire technology sector…

Investor sentiment is fragile and the stock market’s been volatile, but the trading action over the last little while has revealed one big consolidation, not a breakdown in the main stock market indices. What’s holding the market around 1,200 on the S&P 500 Index is the expectation for…

I think investors really want to be buyers of stock at this time, but there isn’t much of a catalyst to do so. Institutional investors are buying, but they’re also playing on the market’s volatility, accentuating the results. Reality is beginning to set in now and there’s a…

I still feel that the most important news investors should be listening to is from corporations themselves. They are the enterprises, not government, and therefore they are the drivers of earnings growth. The fact of the matter is that we are in the age of austerity, and we…

While the price of gold and price of silver continue to be very strong, a lot of gold stocks and silver stocks have been pulling back in price. It’s a reflection of the current state of things, with investor sentiment seemingly stuck in a rut. We’re in a…

The stock market is facing some strong headwinds over the short term and all the wrangling is a real shame considering that we’re still getting great earnings results from large-caps. It’s no wonder the spot price of gold keeps ticking higher; there’s nothing else for investors to rally…

It would be so wonderful if the sovereign debt crisis in Europe was not at hand. It never pays to live in a fantasy world, but corporate earnings are coming in so good that the market would be a lot higher if we didn’t have to worry about…

The only thing that really matters to the stock market is corporate earnings. The numbers are everything, and that’s what equity investors need to be focused on. I’d be a new buyer of large-cap, dividend paying stocks right now. The market hasn’t pulled back much over the last…

The good old times must be back. So far this month, 31 major companies have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public, the highest number since the summer of 2007. Corporate earnings? They’re booming again, too. Just look at some of these first-quarter earnings…

It would probably be a good idea to consider investing in real estate over the next two years. According to the numbers, it seems like the housing market is at a multi-year low. If you want to invest in stocks, there’s still opportunity, but don’t forget that we’re…

Everything needs a break now—stock prices and commodity prices. We’ve had a great run and a correction or period of consolidation would be a very healthy development for equity and commodity markets. The 2010 fourth-quarter earnings season is just about over and we’re in for a lull. Accordingly,…

The sovereign debt issue has to be put to bed for stock prices to really accelerate in a meaningful way. It may take fourth-quarter earnings season to get investors distracted from the issue, but it has to be dealt with in order for equities to begin a sustainable…

The S&P 500 Index is getting very close to the key resistance level of 1,200. It last hit that level in April this year, after which the broader market went through a period of intense negative sentiment. Let’s hope this situation doesn’t repeat itself this time around. The…

It's amazing what a new month and a couple pieces of better-than-expected economic data can do to investor sentiment. It's like we're in a whole new world. Stocks are probable to trade to the upside over the next few weeks in anticipation of third-quarter earnings season. So far,…

It's looking like the stock market is very close to a breakout point from its trading range over the last three months. The S&P 500 Index has been bouncing between 1,000 and 1,120 during this period and, previously, any weekly upside would result in a similar kind of…