by Chris Mayer, Daily Reckoning “Power utilities now face uncertainty of a kind that traditional phone companies faced when cellular technology emerged,” writes Bill McKibben in The New Yorker. It’s an apt analogy. The disruptor in this case comes from solar and other technologies, which reduce the demand for electricity. Consider this striking observation from…
Rate Hike Odds Increase The odds of a September rate hike rose Friday on the heels of a good, but not spectacular jobs report. The Financial Times reported “After Friday’s figures, traders expressed more confidence that rates would go up next month, with federal funds futures implying a 58 per cent probability of an increase…
Consumer spending again played a key role in boosting the economy in the second quarter. According to the “advance estimate” released by the U.S. Department of Commerce last week, the second quarter GDP rose 2.3%, compared to the revised 0.6% growth rate witnessed in the first quarter. The catalyst’s effect is likely to sustain for…
It was back in March when we were delighted to report that we had finally solved “The Mystery Of America’s Missing Wage Growth” – “mystery” because while those employees in positions of power had been abusing the availability heuristic for years, and extrapolating their own wage growth to the broader population, the reality was what…
If you don’t think the Fed and other central banks have transformed financial markets into debt besotted gambling casinos, consider the last few days of carnage in the media stocks. That sector is rife with bubble finance infections. To wit, hedge fund speculators feasting on zero interest carry trades and cheap options own 10% of the 15 companies which…
Monthly Budget Review for July 2015 (Bolding mine): The federal government’s budget deficit amounted to $463 billion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2015, CBO estimates. That deficit was $2 billion larger than the one recorded during the same period last year. If not for shifts in the timing of certain payments (which otherwise…
Google (GOOG) conducted an exclusive event in August last year, and the main attendees were the Googlers. At this event, a debate took place between the Internet firm’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt and the CEO of Vodafone (VOD)– Vittorio Colao, who said “We love Google, but we fear Google.” Vodafone is a major opponent of Google in Europe….
Google (GOOG) conducted an exclusive event in August last year, and the main attendees were the Googlers. At this event, a debate took place between the Internet firm’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt and the CEO of Vodafone (VOD)– Vittorio Colao, who said “We love Google, but we fear Google.” Vodafone is a major opponent of Google in Europe….
The omens are not good when momentum and quality become highly correlated, warns Societe Generale’s cross-asset research group. Quality is now essentially price momentum and vice versa, and history tells us when these two strategies collide the omens are not usually good, as it is a phenomena usually associated with equity markets turning bearish. This becomes…
When Gil Scott-Heron uttered those famous words over that legendary drum pattern and base line, he was speaking upon the tumultuous social environment in the United States, not about the most recent stock price drops of companies in the television industry. The primary media giants suffered these loses were Disney (DIS), 21st Century Fox (FOX), Viacom (VIAB), CBS…
