Has Consumer Confidence Peaked? The latest reading of consumer confidence (103 for September) was a bit of head-scratcher. With the market in the midst of a 10% correction, layoffs rising, job, wage growth stalling, and China on the verge of implosion, how could confidence rise? While the media, and the Federal Reserve, focus on lifting asset prices…
US jobless claims continue to cast a positive glow on the outlook for the labor market. Today’s weekly update shows that new filings for unemployment benefits fell a solid 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 263,000 for the week through Oct. 3. That leaves claims only modestly higher than the four-decade low of 255,000 that was touched back…
GBPJPY: The cross now faces further weakness after turning lower ahead of its key overhead resistance at 184.42 level during Thursday trading session. Our bias remains lower as long as that level remains unbroken. On the downside, support comes in at the 182.50 level where a violation will aim at the 182.00 level. A break…
Having closed yesterday above the 200-day moving average for the first time since May, the weaker-than-expected Chinese equity market open sent the precious metal tumbling and it is extending losses in the early US session. Click on picture to enlarge And as the morning flush hits, Silver falls further… Click on picture to enlarge Charts: Bloomberg
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the first three quarters of 2015 in correction territory, down 8.6% year-to-date and 11.3% below its all-time intraday high of 18,351.36 set on May 19. Eight of the 30 Dow stocks had gains at the end of September, but only six had gains of 5% or more. Click on…
China’s markets re-opened after the extended national holiday today. Policymakers hit the ground running with two new initiatives. The initiatives are likely driven by China’s own reform efforts, but they will also enhance the likelihood that the yuan is included in the SDR. The first initiative is the launch of its own payment system for…
Rick Santelli and Charlies Biderman, CEO of TrimTabs Investment Research, discussed the slowing economic engine of the United States. The root of the problem? As Santelli put it: “We used to lead the rest of the world, thinking free markets do it. Now, all of a sudden, we’ve joined the rest of the world thinking only governments…
Mutual funds with significant exposure to diversified bonds are excellent choices for investors seeking steady returns with a relatively low level of risk. Investing in funds, which maintain a portfolio of bonds issued across a wide range of market sectors, also reduce sector-specific risk. Moreover, investing in diversified bond funds is preferred to individual bonds’…
This will be a brief but hopefully helpful column. For some time, I have been explaining that the new Fed operating framework for monetary policy, in which the FOMC essentially steers interest rates higher by fiat rather than in the traditional method (by managing the supply of funds and therefore the resulting pressure on reserves), is…
Imagine you bought a vending machine for $2,000. This vending machine made you profits of $100 a year, after all expenses. It would take 20 years to recoup your initial investment. The amount of time an investment requires to pay back your initial investment amount is called the payback period. Analyzing investments through the lens…
