Leverage Limits

Leverage Limits

  This week’s indicator is all about leverage in the stock market, or what is commonly referred to as margin debt. What is margin debt? In simple terms, it’s a measure of how much money investors are borrowing to buy stocks. When they do this, it’s called buying...
All Aboard

All Aboard

This week’s indicator is actually three different indicators that, when combined, are flashing some good news for the stock market. The indicators (or models, to be exact) focus on three key areas: stocks, interest rates, and inflation. The idea is simple—when stocks...
Policy Pivot

Policy Pivot

  This week’s indicator is all about central banks. What is a central bank? In simple terms, it’s a government agency that controls a country’s money and helps keep the economy stable. It does this by controlling interest rates, either cutting (decreasing) or...
Breadth Boost

Breadth Boost

  Sometimes price isn’t the only thing that matters to investors. Breadth—the number of stocks going up or down—can be a valuable tool, too. For example, a popular way to measure this is with the Advance/Decline (A/D) Line. It’s calculated by taking the number of...
Corporate Cuts

Corporate Cuts

  This week’s indicator is all about that nasty word nobody likes: layoffs. Why layoffs? Because when they start to rise, it can signal that the job market is cooling off—often before we see it in other stats like initial jobless claims. This makes it a useful...
Central Banks on the Move

Central Banks on the Move

  When it comes to financial markets, central banks matter. They’re a big player. What they do affects almost everything in the economy, so it’s important to keep an eye on their moves and know their policies. That’s where this week’s indicator comes into...