With stocks essentially on auto-drive since early September and laughing in the face of what was supposed to be a volatile month with some downside, let's switch gears for a day and look at Bitcoin. The crypto currency, or whatever it is, hasn't done a whole lot since March 2024, and at around $67,000 is currently near levels from November 2021. Bitcoin's all-time closing high was $73,118. At this point, it may be a good time to use a trading method called Multi Time Frame Analysis (MTFA), which examines an asset over a variety of time frames, including monthly, weekly, and daily charts. We have found this to be very helpful for both a longer-term investor or a shorter-term trader. On a monthly basis since the start of March, Bitcoin looks extremely calm and appears to be tracing out a multi-month bull flag. Stepping back, it may be tracing out a multi-year bullish cup-with-handle formation. Using monthly candles, Bitcoin has been supported by its 10-month exponential during the flag. Price is now right at the top of the downward-sloping flag, and a strong breakout could open the door for several measured moves, with an initial rally likely halted at $100,000. On a weekly basis, Bitcoin looks much-more volatile since March and it may be tracing out an extended flat, which is a continuation pattern. Weekly momentum recently turned higher, as has the weekly vortex indicator. Like gold, Bitcoin has ignored the dollar rally since late September. We previously have noted that big Bitcoin rallies have been concurrent with a dollar decline. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

Bank of America is one of the largest financial companies in the world. The company is primarily a U.S. retail and commercial bank, with a network of more than 4,000 branches across much of the country. The 2005 acquisition of MBNA made Bank of America the nation's largest credit-card lender. As such, trends in consumer interest rates, employment, income growth and borrowing patterns represent a significant risk to the company's earnings. The 2008 acquisition of Countrywide made BofA the country's largest mortgage company as well. BofA became a top-tier securities firm and retail broker with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Stocks are in the red at midday on Tuesday, with earnings reports being the major catalyst. Technology shares, and semiconductor players in particular, are weighing on sentiment after ASML Holdings cut sales guidance in an unexpected move. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth also surprised with an uncharacteristic earnings miss, leaving Healthcare stocks under pressure. Energy stocks are also mostly in the red in sympathy with the drop in the price of oil, this after OPEC cut production guidance and a fears of an attack on Iranian energy plants diminished. Offsetting that a tad is generally good reporting news from Financial sector companies.

Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, with more than $3.0 trillion in assets. It is organized into four major segments: consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking, and global markets. Bank of America's consumer-facing lines of business include its network of branches and deposit-gathering operations, retail lending products, credit and debit cards, and small-business services. The company's Merrill Lynch operations provide brokerage and wealth-management services, as does its private bank. Wholesale lines of business include investment banking, corporate and commercial real estate lending, and capital markets operations. Bank of America has operations in several countries but is primarily US-focused.