Gaza

Several news sources have reported that the Israeli government is planning to build a $5 billion artificial island off the Gaza Strip. According to a top government official, this project would provide Palestinians living in Gaza with access to a seaport and, possibly, an airport and hotels....

​Recap Heading into last week's close, the markets looked ugly; Thursday night futures were in free fall on air strikes news. Luckily the news hit off hours, and when Friday's open came markets had digested the events and never looked back. This Week The bears don't seem to be...

As Israel battles Hamas within the Gaza strip, many Israeli-based companies continue to be targeted by the international community for boycott. Israeli based SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA) is one of the many companies targeted by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement because of a...

Recap Last week was another one in which early promise turned into an ugly close. Understanding the "why" of the sell off is crucial to guide trading going forward. Thursday's drop appeared to reflect rate hike fears, evidenced by a spiking TNX. However, Friday the TNX crashed,...

Brent crude oil was steady above $107 as investors kept an eye on global instabilities, but relaxed their worries about a supply interruptions, as the market appears to have a glut of crude. The commodity traded at $107.61 at 7:30 GMT with the conflicts in Gaza and Libya in focus. In Libya,...

Recap: After such promise earlier in the week, the markets finished on a sour note. If you listen to CNBC you would think it was mostly Visa's and Amazon's fault, but the weakness was widespread and most evident in the small caps, down one percent on the day. Overall, the indices...

Brent crude oil remained near $107 as rising global supplies helped mitigate worries about geopolitical tensions. The commodity traded at $107.28 at 7:15 GMT despite ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. The death toll in Gaza continued to climb this week despite efforts to broker a...

It's a dumb idea to stay negative on the U.S. economy and/or stock market for long. Sure, it can pay to get negative for a while, but overstaying your welcome as a "Negative Nancy" can prove problematic in this business. Of course, there are those who take the opposite view, and...

ETF Outlook for Tuesday, July 22, 2014   After beginning the week lower, stocks were able to rally into the close and ended Monday with modest losses. The geopolitical concerns continue to be the black cloud hanging over the market; however, investors have become numb to unrest around...

After the relatively wild action seen late last week, the question of the day is if the swings we saw on Thursday and Friday are meaningful, or simply the work of the trend-following bots doing their thing. Recall that on Thursday the S&P 500 fell 23.45 points, or -1.2 percent on a plethora...

ETF Outlook for the Week of July 21, 2014   Last week geopolitical unrest around the globe threatened the bull market. The Malaysian Airline shooting and the Israeli ground attack on Gaza spooked markets and sent the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) down more than one percent for the...

ETF Outlook for Friday, July 18, 2014 The Dow Jones Industrial Average had one of its worst days in the last couple of months yesterday, just 24 hours after closing at the best level ever. Two geopolitical events opened investors' eyes and sent a panic through the markets. First came the...