US Corporate Profits vs. GDP The latest GMO Quarterly Report, released yesterday as a 26-page PDF, has some interesting charts and commentary on valuations, PEs, and a premium on US equities. Let’s put a spotlight on a chart and commentary starting on page 10. When we began building our forecasts, this series had a wonderfully mean-reverting…
University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment During the session on Friday, we have University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment numbers, Core PPI numbers, and Retail Sales coming out of America. With that being the case, it’s very likely that the US dollar will come into focus, not to mention the fact that the currency effects almost every…
If there is a shift in the credit scheme of the junk bond bubble of late, the reduced volume in issuance would suggest why. While issuance, including high yield and leveraged loans, has been volatile the past few years it had never been so persistently beaten down as it is now. In other words, there…
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) is the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, with a diverse customer base including the biggest names in the smartphone industry such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). The company’s sales are usually a good barometer of how the semiconductor chip industry is doing. In a good year, TSM receives more than 10% of its sales from…
Crude oil still looks to be at a bigger picture crossroads to me. As I mentioned last month, 17 to 18 months is usually a pretty important litmus test for a trend, but especially so when the market in question has undergone the severe kind of liquidation that oil has come under over the past year…
Photo Credit: Pierre Metivier VeriFone (PAY), the leading payment service solution provider, will be reporting its Q42015 earnings report on Monday after the closing bell. The company has beaten Wall Street analyst expectations on both revenue and earnings for 9 straight quarters and looks to continue the trend this quarter. New innovations and initiatives have been a…
The demographic cycle is one of the most important, yet often neglected, factors for predicting economic prosperity and performance. Demographics, statistical data related to the population and its various sectors, often reflect social changes that drive the economy. I discussed the connection between demographics and economics with economist Harry Dent, author of The Demographic Cliff: How…
“The financial system itself continues to exhibit dangerous and erratic behavior; the stock market is rigged and Wall Street is a parasitic wealth transfer operation; commodity prices plummet; junk bond defaults double; derivative exposures remain in the dark; community banks are gobbled up; and the holdings of the mega Wall Street banks become ever more…
EU Session Bullet Report – Stocks fall along with oil, EURUSD surges There was a broad USD selloff that was ignited by a short lived recovery in commodity prices. Oil surged initially after data revealed less than expected inventory buildup. As a result GOLD also rose to 1084. EURUSD broke higher than 1.0980 which was…
Here is the latest ‘units sold’ data for the Machine Tool industry. New equipment sales continue to decline and used equipment kicked up a bit. We are once again at the year-end, which is a season that Machine Tool sales traditionally bounce, on tax related buying. So let’s not be surprised if November and/or December…
