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 & Market Review
Last week’s data continued the recent trend of better than expected reports on the US economy. Unfortunately, the investing world chose to focus on the latest blip in Italian and Spanish bond yields and equity markets turned in their worst week since September. The S&P 500 fell 3.81% on the week, while Europe and Emerging .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Volatility made a comeback last week as traders alternately bought and sold based on the latest utterances of various government officials. First it was Bernanke’s semi-annual report to Congress where his initial remarks were taken as an indication that QE 3 was warming up in the wings. Apparently not happy with how the market interpreted .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
It appears the markets are finally waking up to some of the myriad of worries I’ve been scribbling about for the last few months. Commodities have taken a header over the last two weeks on fears about slowing global growth and the impending end of QE II in June. Stocks have held up better, especially .. 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
Well, thank goodness the politicians finally managed to find a budget compromise that allows both sides to stockpile talking points for the next election and keep the government operating through the end of the fiscal year. The amount cut from the budget amounts to a rounding error but will either save the US economy from .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
As I said last week, get ready for some volatility. Stocks most everywhere fell last week but it wasn’t a one way ride. Down Monday, up Tuesday, flat Wednesday, smacked around Thursday and an end of the week rally on Friday. The S&P 500 finished the week down 1.28%. Foreign markets, particularly emerging ones, were .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
GM sold shares to the public last week some of which were previously owned by….the public. Anyone lucky or well connected enough to be allocated shares in the IPO was able to book a near 10% profit almost immediately while the less fortunate previous owners – that would be you and me – took a .. read more
