Stocks: Debacle Du Jour (Smile Direct SDC)

The money losing stocks, the recent IPO's continue to get beat up. The real debacle du jour was Smile Direct. That one was down another 15% today: down $2 - it closed at $11.34 right off the new low of $11.20. Remember, this stock came public less than 2 weeks ago and it was $23 a share.

The Federal Reserve Does Not Have Enough Ammunition

I don't really think there's enough ammunition left in the Fed's chamber to have a meaningful impact on the markets, and I think traders are overestimating the ability of the Federal Reserve to rescue the market the way it has rescued it in the past.

Related trading instruments: SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

A Banana Republic Without Bananas

The Federal Reserve is expanding its balance sheet, creating money out of thin air to buy government debt and other debt to artificially suppress interest rates. That’s what banana republics do. America is doing the same thing except we don’t have the bananas.