I am sometimes puzzled as to why the Atlanta Fed GDPNow Model moves counter to what one would normally expect following economic news releases. For example, on December first, construction spending hit an 8-year high. On the same day the ISM was a huge disappointment. I expected the net overall result of those to be…
Regular readers of my writings know that I preach that a REIT worth owning should reward investors with regular dividend increases. The typical REIT announces a new, higher dividend once a year, followed by four quarterly payouts at the new rate. Across the REIT world, increases happen every month of the year, but January is…
Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $308.73 million of stock compared to $596.73 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand increased with insiders selling $871.89 million of stock last week compared to $767.16 million in the week prior. Despite the decline in insider buying, insider buying remains elevated as insider buying tracks below…
Market Overview “A bear market rally occurs after an important decline, rapidly retracing a good percentage of it, but it has no staying power and comes back down as quickly as it went up”. That seems to be a good description of what happened last week. Last Monday, SPX ended a decline from 2104 at…
Not long ago, my colleague, Alan Gula, wrote that the U.S. banking system was the envy of the world. Is this right? Well, it all depends on how you measure banks. After all, there are many ways to peel an onion. As anyone in finance or economics knows, ranking banks is always controversial, as there…
A competitive advantage gives a company an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders. The more sustainable the competitive advantage, the longer the business in question will be able to produce outsized returns for shareholders. Warren Buffett was one of the first to recognize the benefits of…
Good friend Michael Pollaro just sent a couple of charts that show the US economy heading for a brick wall. The first illustrates what happens when business sales (the green line) turn negative. In the previous two boom/bust cycles, when sales started falling the economy either tipped into recession shortly thereafter or (it was discovered…
US economic news was strong. The Fed raised rates (see the bond market review for detailed analysis), indicating their confidence in the economic environment. Both LEIs and CEIs increased; the former rose smartly, while the later are a bit weak thanks to the shallow industrial recession. Housing starts and permits also rebounded. The markets, however,…
Very quiet economic calendar During the session on Monday, we have very little to move the markets due to economic announcements, so we believe it will essentially be a continuation of the overall trends that we’ve seen recently. Gold bounces The gold markets bounced during the course of the day on Friday, showing a significant…
Pandora stock price has been moving higher after the CRB delivered a favorable ruling on an impending hike on music royalty rates. The CRB also ruled that future increases will be pegged on inflation based on the Consumer Price Index which is favorable to Pandora Media as well. Pandora Media still has to climb a…
