Market takes off!
At it’s high, the S&P 500 was up 20 percent from the October 4th low and closed at 1284. At the moment, 94% of stocks in the S&P 500 are trading above their 50-day moving averages. The stock market isn’t the only asset class that has been on fire recently. Corporate bonds — both investment grade .. read more
Consumer Confidence Plunges
September consumer confidence came in at 39.8 versus the expectation for 46. This is the lowest reading since March 2009. “Consumer confidence is now back to levels last seen during the 2008-2009 recession. Consumer expectations, which had improved in September, gave back all of the gain and then some, as concerns about business conditions, the labor market .. read more
Oil is up 20% in October
Just a quick note. Last week, we saw three mergers in the energy sector totaling $51 billion. Kinder Morgan, El Paso, Amerigas, & Statoil to name a few. What opportunity are these operators seeing that others did not? A recent academic study completed in July of this year titled, Value Creation for Acquirers: New Methods and .. read more
Weekly Chart Review: What’s hot, what’s not
What’s hot: Retail, Philadelphia Fed Survey, Construction, Free Trade What’s not: Technology, Casinos, Copper After a rough first day of the month, the S&P 500 is now on pace for its third best October performance on record. In terms of the economy, unlike recent weeks where the vast majority of economic reports came in better than expected, this .. read more
Groupon IPO: Caveat Emptor
Next week, Groupon will begin it’s $750 million IPO roadshow and Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter. Here’s what we know so far: Most of all the insiders and early venture capitalist have already cashed out, They have burned through roughly $700 million in cash since January, The SEC has asked them to review their .. read more
Jobless claims drop 6,000 to 403,000
Highlights Initial jobless claims edged 6,000 lower in the October 15 week to 403,000, but the level is 3,000 higher than Econoday’s consensus estimate and the prior week is revised 5,000 higher to 409,000. Yet the trend is clearly if only marginally positive with the four-week average down for a fourth straight week, 6,250 lower .. read more
CPI: Energy, food still rising.
Highlights Headline inflation for the consumer remained on the warm side while core inflation softened. The consumer price index in September increase 0.3 percent, following a 0.4 percent jump the month before. The latest number matched the consensus forecast. Excluding food and energy, the CPI posted a mild 0.1 percent boost after rising 0.2 percent .. read more
Housing Starts Up, Permits Down
Highlights September housing data appears in part to be coming off hurricane effects in August as starts jumped and permits eased back. But strength also appears to be more broad based than this effect. Housing starts in September rebounded a sharp 15.0 percent after declining 7.0 percent the month before. The September annualized pace of .. read more
