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 This is the week I finally had to turn bearish on the stock market. The warning signs have piled up too high for me to continue ignoring them. The momentum in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ has been incredibly strong, and that momentum kept me from making this call earlier. However, … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary The housing market again seemed to tell a tale of divergent markets between new and existing homes. While new home sales and starts fared well, a large setback in builder sentiment sets the stage for setbacks in April’s new home sales. Existing home sales completely erased the wistful optimism from … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary The housing market is entering its spring selling season, but for me this moment is more about spring cleaning. The seasonal trade in home builders and housing-related optimism has run its course far sooner and far weaker than I expected. What should have been a period of improving momentum has … 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
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