ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The Market Breadth Summary Stock Market Commentary Chaotic trading continued last week. Some segments of the market are doing extremely poorly and other segments of the market that are doing extremely well. A market rotation has turned into stark divergence hidden by major indices which are mainly thrashing about. I see three major signals. One, … Read more
Jumia Technologies (JMIA) reported strong Q4 2025 results. At the same time, the company is entering another important phase in its development as scale and economics align more visibly within the business model. On a year-over-year basis: The headline numbers are strong, but the more important development is structural. Operating Leverage Takes Center Stage In … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary This edition of “What Happened in the Housing Market” is once again without data on housing starts and new home sales because of the previous shutdown of the Federal government. Yet, plenty of data dropped to confirm the on-going sluggishness of the housing market. Poor responses to key earnings report … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week’s trading had something for almost everyone: volatility, churn, recovery, and a bank scare. A familiar story about renewed U.S.–China trade tensions expanded into a larger mosaic of market stress and resilience. Still, given market breadth remains broken, I see a market skating on the edge. The volatility index (VIX) summarizes … Read more
The bearish to bullish reversal ended for home builder stocks with a return to bear market territory. Today, October 9, 2025, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) dropped under the threshold that defines a bear market: 20% below the all-time high (see chart below). The 2.6% slide on the day is part of a … Read more