Weekly Economic & Market Review
Stocks continued their relentless advance last week and while I remain skeptical of the rally, I must admit its persistence has been impressive. All good things must come to an end though as the bond market demonstrated in fairly dramatic fashion just last week. Long term bonds (as measured by the IShares 20+ year Treasury .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Anticipation of the rapture must have gripped Wall Street traders last week. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for the first day trading of LinkedIn. If the world had ended Saturday as expected, surely it wouldn’t matter that Thursday you paid 35 times sales for a company that expects to post a .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Last week’s economic data continued the recent pattern of the recovery. Manufacturing remains strong, inflation is rising, housing is weak and employment remains a major issue. The economy is continuing to slowly recover but there is no sign of an acceleration that is sorely needed to reduce the unemployment rate. I suspect the next few .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
I’ve been warning about a rise in volatility for the last month and it arrived in spades last week. Clairvoyant? Hardly. Obviously, I had no idea an earthquake and nuclear disaster was about to strike Japan. If I had, I would have sold the tiny position in Japanese stocks our portfolios hold (less than 1% .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Well, I think its official now. Everyone is bullish. On CNBC last week, Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom, the famous bear who allegedly predicted the financial crisis (stopped clocks and all that) pronounced that the bull may carry on for a while more. I think tactically for the next few months equities could rise because .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
I’ve been worried about the US economy for some time now and particularly about the high unemployment rate, but I feel so much better now. Last week, President Obama named Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, to head his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. No wait, that’s what it was called when Paul Volcker was .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
President Obama signed the bill last week to extend the Bush tax rates for another two years. About the only people pleased by that fact were the Congress critters who voted for the extension and the occupants of the top tax bracket who were spared the inconvenience of meeting with their tax attorneys and CPAs to find a .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Stock markets rose last week even as the economic data – or at least most of it – continued to deteriorate. The S&P 500 rose roughly 1.5% while the NASDAQ rose over 3%. Foreign markets also generally rose with the hottest markets continuing their winning ways. India rose 4%, Hong Kong 3.3%, Turkey 5.3%, Indonesia .. read more
