Credit Still Matters…
By James Dondero | December 14, 2015 Last week demonstrated a tone of “risk off” in the markets, as investors prepare for the potential of rising interest rates from the FOMC for the first time in 10 years. Both stocks and high-yield bonds were off sharply, in favor of the relative safety of US Treasuries. While the bears have clearly wrestled the ball from the…
Can High Yield Bonds Bolster U.S. Equities?
By Jim Dondero | October 19, 2015 Stocks had another decent week and continued their advance off their October lows. Stocks continue to face significant areas of resistance just overhead (such as 2,050 on the S&P 500) which — if surpassed — would likely kick-off the traditional Christmas Rally. The potential success of US equities will likely depend on the credit markets. An easy way…
A Possible Short-Term Bottom for Stocks, However Credit Continues to Loom
By James Dondero | October 2, 2015 Stocks finally had a good week, as both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ held their August 24th lows. Even more important is that both exchanges saw few new 52-wk lows in the (testing) process, which suggests the market has likely put a short term bottom “in place.” That being said, widening credit spreads remain not only a headwind –…
The Fed Stands Pat
By James Dondero | September 21, 2015 Markets were quite volatile last week, with stocks reacting negatively to the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. While the FOMC did make it clear rates were likely to rise by year end, “lower for longer” is the message to which markets are now adjusting. Bonds however, are benefitting from the announcement as the relatively high yields on…
Markets Await Federal Reserve Decision
By Jim Dondero | September 14, 2015 US stocks finally had a quiet week, ahead of one of the most widely anticipated FOMC meetings ever. While the broad market averages have bounced off their mini-meltdown lows, bottoming is typically a process rather than event and those lows may well see further testing in the days and weeks ahead. Looking around the world, developed markets remain in…
Bottoming is a “Process,” not an “Event”
By James Dondero | September 08, 2015 US stocks finished the week lower, unable to build on their rally off the Aug 24th lows. Stepping back, while stocks could be quite oversold here, market bottoms are typically a process versus an event, and further bouncing and testing around the August lows would be quite normal. One key to the stock market going forward may be the…
Testing… Testing
By Jim Dondero | August 31, 2015 US Stocks had another extremely volatile week, and August 2015 will be remembered as one of the worst to investors in many years. More important than the declines themselves is that several market averages have decisively broken key areas of support, and are now putting in a pattern of “lower highs” and “lower lows.” As we also noted last…
Once again… Credit was right!
By James Dondero | August 24, 2015 US Stocks had a very rough week, suffering their biggest declines since their 2011 lows. Technically speaking, stocks have now decisively broken key areas of support such as 2,050 on the S&P 500 and 1,200 on the Russell 2000. Naturally, US Treasuries benefitted from the volatility, pushing yields on the 10-yr Note below 2% on Monday. Yields traded as…
Will Credit Lead Equities?
By Jim Dondero | August 17, 2015 Stocks were up nicely last week, with the broad market averages advancing nearly 1%. More importantly, the bulls successfully defended key areas of support such as 2,050 on the S&P 500 and 1,200 on the Russell 2000. Our point being, it appears to us as if stocks may have a good chance to post further gains from here. That…
Where the Rubber Meets the Road!
By James Dondero | August 7, 2015 US stocks finished in the red last week, being led lower by the small caps. While the tone of the tape was clearly “defensive,” the broad market averages held key support levels such as 2050 on the S&P 500 and 1200-20 on the Russell 2000. This week could potentially be “where the rubber meets the road,” as breaking these…