MTS Insights

Here we are once again. It is the end of August. The start of a new week, a refreshing restart to markets that were in turmoil just a week before.Confidence in securities seems to be brimming as investors end their sell-off that crashed the stock market earlier in the month. As August ends, the Dow Jones Industrial average records its weakest performance in the history of this summer month (months where seasonality patterns typically show an increase in overall demand). The real story is crude oil and the turn around it has managed in the last few days. Throughout the summer months and despite the summer driving, the WTI price fell to sub-$40 price levels. In the past three trading sessions, prices recovered 27% to $48.51 a barrel. Today alone, investors sparked a rally of 7.28% or $3.29. Brent crude oil showed the same gains as it rose back above $50 on positive sentiment regarding fundamental data. Today's movement sent prices above 30-day and 7-day moving averages which still re...

After reviewing this week in the markets, one will not find it hard to write about the volatility and waves of sentiment that defined the past five trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ranged from 15,446 to 16,650, a 1,204 point difference over a trading period of about 40 hours. That's about 30 points an hour without counting retracements. It's fair to say now that the worst is over as corrections ease back over the 7-day short-term trend line, inching closer to the 30-day moving average. Volatility will begin to rescind into the oblivion of the recent past as investor keep their eyes on the Chinese recession as well as the Federal Reserves musings on rate hikes.While U.S. stocks were getting beat up in every sector, the crude oil price posted surprising results with the global market surge that immediately followed the crash. A chart from WSJ shows the phenomenon best: It took 3 trading weeks to drop the WTI benchmark price to its low, and only 5 days to record...

Good news all around the markets today as everyone seems to be seeing green. The plantlike growth that has stemmed from the major corrections didn't come easy as Chinese and U.S. stocks had to see buds worth billions of dollars nipped before blooming could occur. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard and Poor's 500, and NASDAQ all saw significant gains up to 2% upon opening and throughout the morning. Technicals on the indices reveal the relaxation of oversold momentum after the crash as the RSI statistics increase to the early 40's. MACD indicators reveal similar momentum shifts as a trough formed two days ago forms into a smooth parabolic shape on the upside. Investors will be wondering how far the handle will increase as retracements are already above the 50% levels for DJIA, S&P, and NASDAQ. The exchange has formed a perfect bull market for traders buying at the bottom on the 25th and making windfall profits in every industry. If that's not the case, losing...

Domestic markets appear to stabilize a bit today as the Dow Jones threatens to break through the 16,000 point level just a 1,000 points below where it had been all year. Glancing at the global Dow Jones index reveals the alleviation of ideas of heightened volatility that could have come as a result of Chinese financial problems. The taste test sampling international markets is down only 0.49% despite losses of 7.48% for the past five days. Crude markets showed signed of life as Brent and WTI benchmarks both increased at +0.68 and +0.42 respectively. More stability permeates the oil markets as Exxon and Chevron are among the top movers in the U.S. stock market (XOM +$3.79, +5.52%; CVX +$3.07, +4.38%). Oil and natural gas companies posted significant gains overall with XOI and XNG gaining over 2.5% of price lost in the past three days A look at the high, low, open, and settlement prices over the past five days reveals the reversal of a new trend after a recovery from the global ...

How does sentiment change so quickly? The stock market is the most volatile arena in the world where feelings reverse and intensify in an instant. Going from losing 1000 points the day before, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shows a strong 350 point surge just 24 hours later. Investors flip from selling in bulk to buying into positions that seem firmer than they were just a week ago. Grou psychology is a funny thing. Earlier in the day when North American traders were sleeping, the Chinese market continued a bearish trend with losses as large as 6.4% at the opening of the market. Just a few hours later, the Chinese government enacted reactionary countercyclical monetary policy by reducing interest rates and bank reserve ratios. Just like that, the New York Stock Exchange erupted in a fit of bullish surges.Plotting various simple moving averages (90d, 30d, 7d) over the past 3 months allows the identification of various short term and long term trends that have been hard to identify in ...

We resume the financial week with stock losses to add onto the market correction in both the United States and China. The numbers explain it better than I do. China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped 297.84 points to 3209.91 (a -8.49% loss). The Dow Jones Industrial saw losses up to 1000 points in reaction to the Chinese rout but are settling down about 200 points instead. The 1.5% loss comes after a 500 point loss at the end of last week. Dow levels below 15,000 accompanied by Chinese recession threats since the devaluation of the yuan send investors' memories to crashes in the past with a BBC reporter comparing today to the flash crash in 2010. The stories don't stop there. Oil and gas investors will be worried more as the WTI and Brent crude benchmarks extend prolific losses on the day amidst the global market conundrum. A little bit over halfway on the day, WTI stands at $1.17 or -2.92% and Brent maintains a loss of $1.55 or -3.34% attempting to recover larger losses tha...

If there is one sector of the economy laden with mousetraps with balls of sour cheese, that sector right now would be the energy industry. Cheap oil prices have pervaded the speculation of traders looking to send their money into the energy sector. Looking back at the last earnings period reveals a massive sell-off of companies that used to be some of the most profitable in the entire stock market. Now, decreasing revenue and razor thin margins have been demolished by cheap crude oil prices. That was a month ago when oil prices still drifted around $50. Ten dollars lower, $40 futures contract endanger the ability to hedge against low prices that could be below operating costs. This article will be focused on energy companies that show the potential to survive in the slump. Because the overall trend is so far bearish, an inevitable uptrend can be an easy road to profits if the right stock is chosen. We'll be looking at some cheap investments (share price under $10) by analyzing perf...