As the second quarter winds down, we can expect the usual flurry of activity as trader’s place their bets on what sectors and stocks will do well and which will do poorly in the months ahead. It’s called “window dressing” and can sometimes cause markets to move in sudden and inexplicable ways. After the close [...]

As we enter the summer season, green shoots are appearing all over the economic landscape. Yet among these shoots, weeds are growing as well. Will the weeds choke off the new growth? One way to know for sure is to keep your eyes on housing prices, where they go so goes the economy.

Trading was so slow this week that you could almost watch those “green shoots” everyone is talking about start to sprout leaves. To me, that’s a good sign. I’ve often said less volatility is what the markets need after months of 2-3% moves every day. Boring, in my opinion, is good.

There are any number of market watchers who are warning investors not to believe in this market’s move higher. They have been sounding alarms ever since we reached a bottom back in March. They are still cautious. As long as that attitude remains among investors you can bet the averages will move even higher.

In case you missed it, Morgan Stanley took control of rival broker Smith Barney from its former parent Citigroup Inc. this week. The new venture called Morgan Stanly Smith Barney will now move into first place as the world’s largest retail broker with 18,000 financial advisers. With the stupendous arrogance that only Wall Street brokers [...]