John Augustine

Big institutions are holding back their own capital. They're looking for an upside catalyst for stock prices. Any activity on read more

Big institutions are holding back their own capital. They're looking for an upside catalyst for stock prices. Any activity on the mergers and acquisition, buy-back or dividend fronts, mixed with good news out of energy or the Fed, would be a catalyst to bring the big institutions back into stock market.

There are fears that any supply disruptions could disturb oil markets and such concerns are holding back both economic growth read more

There are fears that any supply disruptions could disturb oil markets and such concerns are holding back both economic growth and stock prices. In the absence of any such disruptions, we expect that crude will stay in the $50-$70 range this year and will likely always be on investors' minds.

Earnings are driving the testing of the top end for the S&P 500, but geopolitical issues are here to stay read more

Earnings are driving the testing of the top end for the S&P 500, but geopolitical issues are here to stay for some time. That will put downward pressure on the stock market.

It seems the storm is not going to be as strong as we feared and that was enough to take read more

It seems the storm is not going to be as strong as we feared and that was enough to take some of the selling pressure off stocks today. We are not likely to see real stock-buying this afternoon as most investors still want to see what happens with the storm during the weekend, but if damage is minimal, we might be bound for a rally on Monday.

Many market observers are coming out with the belief that the market will break upward after the election. Such strong read more

Many market observers are coming out with the belief that the market will break upward after the election. Such strong consensus views often don't turn out to be a reality.