Jack Ablin

Volatility is still pretty low but financial conditions suggest you need to tighten your seat belts and stay put, there is a temptation to take money off the table and sit tight for the rest of the year.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting over an ephemeral slice o... by Jack Ablin

Brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting over an ephemeral slice of a shrinking pie.

These tit-for-tat trade tariffs will ultimately raise prices for consumers and will likely dampen demand for products.

Finally the recovery has really picked up in the rest of the world. It's moving along faster than the U.S. because it's trailed. The U.S. is further along because the central bank here really was aggressive in quantitative easing first.

For the most part. by Jack Ablin

For the most part.

The jobs report is a great running barometer on how our economy i... by Jack Ablin

The jobs report is a great running barometer on how our economy is doing.

All of our dials are pointing positive with the exception of valu... by Jack Ablin

All of our dials are pointing positive with the exception of valuations.

If investors are inclined to make a bet, then they're better serv... by Jack Ablin

If investors are inclined to make a bet, then they're better served by waiting a few days.

There's a lot of information. by Jack Ablin

There's a lot of information.

Looks like a slight hangover from the party that we had last week... by Jack Ablin

Looks like a slight hangover from the party that we had last week.

Call it the calm before the storm. This is really probably not a day to make too many big bets, given that we could have some outlook changing information in the next couple of days.

It doesn't mean go back to the races. by Jack Ablin

It doesn't mean go back to the races.

Long-term big picture, it makes sense to buy the dips, but I think in the near-term there's more downside risk than upside potential at this point.

Expectations for earnings and revenue growth are pretty low right now, so the opportunity to beat expectations is as easy as jumping over a limbo stick.

We're going to get a number investors can sink their teeth into tomorrow and next week kicks off earnings season which is vitally important to the direction of stocks for the rest of the year.

The Fed is fixated on jobs and its ability to throttle inflation. Meanwhile unless we get a lousy jobs number tomorrow I think the Fed is going to be on the hook to explain themselves if they're not going to raise.

When you close at the low of the day, it's an important signal, the economy is solid but the financial markets are ripe for some kind of correction.

Given the importance of such a big number, investors are taking a... by Jack Ablin

Given the importance of such a big number, investors are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Given the importance of such a big numbers, investors are taking... by Jack Ablin

Given the importance of such a big numbers, investors are taking a wait-and-see approach.

The market is getting such a mixed bag of rhetoric from the Fed, it seems like the Fed isn't sure what it's going to do.