Weekly Economic and Market Review
Does Ben Bernanke have access to a Bloomberg? I ask that because he is apparently unaware that the dollar index is down for 9 straight days, gold is hitting new highs and silver is approaching cult status. He said at his press conference that a strong and stable dollar was in the best interests of .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
I spend a lot of time reading the economic tea leaves. Given my well known distrust of politicians and government, it is a bit of ironic that I spend so much time poring over the details of government produced reports but there really is little choice. I also look at privately produced reports such as .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Got whiplash yet? If not, stand by because volatility is rising and seems likely to get worse in the months ahead. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% last week but that masks the volatility of the week. Stocks were down 1.6% Tuesday and up 1.7% on Thursday after a good jobless claims report (see below). .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
The market got exactly what it expected last week and the result was another leg higher in a rally built on two dubious assumptions: gridlock is good and the Fed can fix what ails the economy. The mid term elections delivered control of the House of Representatives to John Boehner and the Republicans while the .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
So maybe the economy isn’t headed over another cliff after all? Last week’s economic data wasn’t great but it was enough to rally the market 3.5% just because it wasn’t as awful as expected. I haven’t been particularly worried about the prospect for a double dip into recession land because I’m an eternal optimist – .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Despite a string of generally weak economic reports, stocks managed to post a decent gain last week. There is apparently an emerging expectation that either the Fed or the administration will pull an August surprise out of their….um…..hats that will get the economy or at least the markets back on the bull run that stalled .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
I’m on vacation this week but just wanted to make sure and comment about the last week’s events. While the big news of the week was obviously the employment report Friday which triggered the big stock market selloff, the economic data actually continues to show pretty steady improvement. Whether that will continue is of course .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
If not for the turmoil of Greek bailouts and computer glitch induced stock market bunge jumps the economic reports last week would have been big news. The stock market may or may not be telling us something about future economic activity but it can’t be denied that current activity continues to accelerate to the upside. Led .. read more
