The inflation fear trade was reignited today after McDonald’s disappointed and existing home sales showed a 1.2 percent decline in June. Following the news, the price of gold climbed 3.17 percent. StockCharts.com Recent housing market and McDonald’s earnings news seems to have put an end to the market’s “taper tantrum” — at least temporarily. Even […]
Fundamentals
Home Sales Drop In June
The National Association of Realtors Reported today that existing home sales fell 1.2 percent in June, indicating some slippage in our struggling housing market recovery. Some news outlets are reporting that rising mortgage rates are squashing buyer purchasing power. If true, especially with rates still at “historic lows,” it certainly doesn’t say much for the […]
Someone Call A Tow Truck, Detroit Files For Bankruptcy
Across all of the major news wires it is being reported that Detroit has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. According to Bloomberg: Two Detroit pension funds sued the city’s emergency manager and the governor of Michigan, asking that a court find a bankruptcy filing would conflict with the state’s constitutional protection of public retirees’ […]
Home Construction Falls — Again!
CBS Evening News, 7/18/2013 Source: Link Did you hear the key points in the above video? 1) Housing prices have increased quickly. 2) First-time home buyers are finding it difficult to get into the housing market. 3) A home in Glendale, CA sold for $110,000 over the asking price. 4) “Right now the economy is […]
It’s Hot, But The Economy’s Not (?)
Studying, following and attempting to gauge economic and stock market trends is, truly, a “dismal science.” Definition of ‘Dismal Science’ A term coined by Scottish writer, essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle to describe the discipline of economics. The term dismal science was inspired by T. R. Malthus’ gloomy prediction that population would always grow faster than food, dooming mankind […]
It’s More Than The Program Trades, Sue — And We Know That!
Yesterday, on CNBC’s Power Lunch, Sue Herera and Bob Pisani had a conversation with a guest speaker (I tuned-in too late to get his name) about individual investors’ distaste for, and disgust with, the stock market. At one point during the conversation, Sue Herera said that a number of individual investors believed that program trading […]
A Stock Rally: The Three Main Elements
Essentially, there are three main elements which will point to a strong, and legitimate, stock market rally: bank stocks leading the charge, industrials cranking away and the transportation sector moving-on-up. It has been said that no rally is a true rally without the banking sector leading the way; and, given that the U.S. economy is […]
A Government For The People, By The People — But For Whose People?
CBS Evening News 7/10/2013 Source: Link I realize that I have posted quite a few news broadcasts lately and that some may feel there is little value in this type of posting on a financial blog site; however, I would beg to differ. I couldn’t sleep last night and I woke-up early this morning (@ […]