In investing, as well as in most of life if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Nowhere is this more true than in the world of high-dividend stocks. A generation ago, investors looked to the bond market for income. That made sense when you could get a safe yield of 8%…
Moments ago IBM reported what can be defined simply as abysmal results. Starting at the bottom, non-GAAP EPS of $3.34 beat expectations of $3.30 but once again thanks to the same trick the company used two quarters ago: it again reduced its effective tax rate from continuing operations down to 18.2%, 2.6% lower than a year…
Refining margins are softening. You saw the breakout move made by gold this week, right? Bullion broke above its 200-day moving average for the first time since May. The May spike, to be sure, was shortlived. It lasted only three days. By that measure, gold isn’t out of the woods yet. No matter. It sure…
I think it is time to talk a little bit about “anchored inflation expectations.” Key to a lot of the inflation modeling at the Fed, and in some sterile economics classrooms around the country, is the notion that inflation is partially shaped by the expectations of inflation. Therefore, when people expect inflation to remain down, it tends…
The NYSE margin debt numbers for the month of September were released today revealing a very significant milestone for the stock market. As of the end of September, both stocks and margin debt have seen their 12-month rate of change turn negative. The last time this happened was April of 2008, as the stock market…
“If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” – Sun Tzu (Chinese Military General) “This game is…
I think these speak for themselves:
During the session on Tuesday, we have a couple of housing related announcements coming out of the United States, but quite frankly that should not be enough to move the markets. After all, we know that housing and construction is not the driver that it once was of the US economy. With that being the…
AUDUSD: AUDUSD took back its intra day gains to close slightly lower on Monday leaving risk of more weakness on the cards. While the pair can trade and hold below the 0.7363/81 levels, we think more weakness should occur towards its support at 0.7197. On the upside, resistance lies at the 0.7300 level. A cut…
Stocks came in weakly, but clearly had a push under them throughout the day. Techs led the way higher, while the SP 500 lagged, weighed down in part by the awful earnings from Morgan Stanley and the financial sector. After the bell IBM missed and lowered forecasts. The Street would like to keep stocks growing…
