"Buy on the rumour, sell on the news" is the classic indication of a weak market. A lack of follow-through buying reveals that market action is not supported by fundamentals, but only by sentiment and momentum. Friday's 2.8% fall on...
Sentiment is a very important influence in markets. When positive, as it has been since March, traders tend to 'look through' today's problems to a brighter future. But at some point, reality needs to confirm this optimism. The IeC Boom/Gloom...
September's IeC Boom/Gloom Index© is slightly higher than August. But the 'Green Shoots' level (green line) has fallen sharply, indicating that sentiment has become less positive about the staying power of the recent rallies in financial markets. The index now...
Merrill Lynch's Bob Farrell was the doyen of sentiment analysts. He famously suggested that 'bear markets have three stages - sharp down, reflexive rebound, a drawn-out fundamental downtrend'. So far we have certainly seen the 'sharp down' period, and the...
Last month, the blog introduced its new Boom/Gloom Index, designed to track sentiment in financial markets. The chart above now updates it to reflect the whole of June. The Index has continued to move up, and is close to the...
Markets are driven by two factors, sentiment and fundamentals. Fundamentals can be followed by analysing hard data. In chemical markets, for example, key areas include new housing starts, auto sales, industrial production, Asian exports, etc. This data can also be...
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