(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) A Bullish Slant On The Markets… is unfolding. As Wall Street analysts continue to revise upward their forecasts for 2022 and 2023 corporate earnings, war broke out in Ukraine, and geopolitical risks escalated, sending the S&P 500 to a dramatic low on February 24. Meanwhile, inflation continued to confirm prices were rising at a troubling rate, which alarmed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and his colleagues, to take a … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) U.S. stocks nudged higher Friday, steadied by a solid employment report that showed the country’s jobless rate returning to pre-pandemic levels. Given the booming labor market, the March employment data reported on Friday showed non-farm payrolls continuing to grow robustly, up 431,000 last month (March) after an upwardly revised 750,000 increase in February. March’s jobless rate fell to a post-pandemic low of 3.6% from 3.8% the previous month, and … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The U.S. is ramping up shipments of liquified natural gas to Europe, as the continent mounts a worldwide hunt for ‘new’ supplies to finally phase out total reliance on Russian energy, after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The globe-spanning effort to wean Europe off Russian energy supplies was at the forefront of President Biden’s summit with European Union Leaders this week in Brussels. The U.S. aims to ship 50 billion … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The Month Businesses Went To War… Businesses reacted as Putin invaded Ukraine. The invasion forced CEOs across the U.S. and Europe into a crisis mode. Massive bombing, and slaughtering of Ukraine citizens, unmercifully, prompted a giant response – never seen before, to the Russian economy. Two years after the pandemic tore into the global economy, another crisis emerged. The pandemic had given leaders a crisis playbook. Years of corporate … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The market had plenty of reasons to fret. Russia showed no sign of wanting to end its war on Ukraine and appeared ready to escalate attacks, not halt them. In response, the U.S. said it would remove “Most favored nation” trading status from the country and blocked Russian oil imports. Big U.S. corporations, including Goldman Sachs Group, McDonald’s, and JPMorgan Chase continued to flee, joining the many already to … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The U.S. labor market is rotating toward a post-pandemic world, with a steady stream of adults joining the labor force and employment approaching levels before Covid-19 began its rapid spread. Employers added 670,000 workers to their payrolls in seven months, the Labor Department said Friday. The jobless rate fell to 3.8% from 4.0% a month earlier, edging closer to the 50-year low of 3.5% hit just before the pandemic. … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The stock market capped a turbulent week, by rallying on Friday, as investors ‘weighed all the negatives’; How the Federal Reserve will proceed with interest-rate-increases, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Energy is at the crux of this conflict. Oil prices rose sharply when the invasion began, with brent-crude rising as high as $105 a barrel Thursday morning (2-24-22), the highest level since 2014. European natural gas prices … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Stocks are stung by Ukraine tensions, as all markets gave ground at Friday’s closing. The threat of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia looms large, weighting heavily on investors’ minds. A war between Ukraine and Russia could prolong elevated inflation by disrupting supplies of needed commodities-world wide. Russia is among the world’s largest suppliers of oil as well as the biggest exporter of wheat and a major producer of … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Inflation Speeds To A 40-Year High… Price rise of 7.5% tops December’s reading as housing and used cars lead the surge. A relentless surge in U.S. inflation reached another four-decade high last month accelerating to a 7.5% annual rate as strong consumer demand collided with the pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions. The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index which measures what consumers pay for goods and services-reached in … Read more…

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose Friday, pushing major stock indexes to weekly gains after a better-than-expected January jobs report showed the economy is still growing solidly. Hirings show surprising strength. The U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said Friday, with wages climbing 5.7%. “We’re seeing a more resilient, more prepared U.S. Labor market than we’ve seen in the past,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president … Read more…