Merriman Market Analyst

Free Weekly Forecast

MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JULY 15, 2024 ©

July 12, 2024

Listen on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Watch on YouTube Review  Why wait until September?… The Fed’s publicly stated criteria for a rate cut, that it can be confident inflation is moving down toward its 2% target, appear to have been met. The core consumer-price index, stripping out food and energy, rose just 3.3% in...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JULY 8, 2024 ©

July 5, 2024

Listen on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Watch on YouTube Review  The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. added a solid 206,000 jobs last month, slightly beating expectations and continuing a remarkably strong run. But the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, a sign of slack in a labor market that has already...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JULY 1, 2024 ©

June 28, 2024

Listen on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Watch on YouTube Note: Next week will be a shortened trading week due to the observance of the July 4 Independence Day in the U.S. Review  It was in fact as consequential as any presidential debate in history, and the worst night for an incumbent in history. It...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JUNE 24, 2024 ©

June 21, 2024

Listen on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Watch on YouTube  Review  Wall Street’s climb to record highs has come with conspicuously little volatility. The S&P 500 has gone 377 days without a 2.05% sell-off. That’s the longest stretch for the benchmark since the great financial crisis, according to FactSet data compiled by CNBC. The index...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JUNE 17, 2024 ©

June 14, 2024

Review  Google Trends is reporting an astonishing spike in searches for “petrodollars.” This is apparently because of a viral story that on 9 June, Saudi Arabia failed to renew a secret 50-year deal with the US to keep oil priced in dollars. Oil has always traded in non-dollar currencies….Saudi Arabia’s...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JUNE 10, 2024 ©

June 7, 2024

Review  U.S. job growth burst past expectations last month while the unemployment rate edged up to 4%, presenting a mixed view of a labor market that has generally been cooling without overly troubling most workers. Total nonfarm U.S. jobs increased a seasonally adjusted 272,000 jobs in May, more than in April...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JUNE 3, 2024 ©

May 31, 2024

Review  A late-afternoon rally lifted the Dow industrials and S&P 500 to daily gains after the Friday morning release of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. The personal-consumption expenditures price index rose 2.7% in April from a year ago, in line with economist expectations. — Patricia Kowsmann and Ryan Dezember, “S&P...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING MAY 27, 2024 ©

May 24, 2024

NOTE: Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day in the U.S., a holiday when the nation honors its warriors, those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Markets will be closed in the U.S.  Review  “Attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING MAY 20, 2024 ©

May 17, 2024

Review  Inflation eased slightly in April, providing at least a bit of relief for consumers while still holding above levels that would suggest a cut in interest rates is imminent. The consumer price index increased 0.3% from March, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. That was slightly...

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MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING MAY 13, 2024 ©

May 10, 2024

Review The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday, wrapping an eighth consecutive winning session and registering its best week of 2024…. Investor enthusiasm was kept in check after consumer sentiment data released Friday morning showed a big uptick in inflation expectations. The preliminary May reading for the University of...

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