After months of speculation, Donald Trump finally withdrew from the Obama-era 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major powers. It also vowed to reimpose all the “powerful economic sanctions” on the OPEC nation waivered within the deal as well as introduce new ones. The sanctions would be reinstated after wind-down periods of 90…
<< Read More: Bank Reserves Part 1; The Great Tease << Read More: Bank Reserves Part 2; If QE Was Really QT, Then Why Hasn’t QT Been QE? There’s one final step to our examination of QE and bank reserves (you’ll need to read through at least Part 1, though Part 2 is worth the time, too). It’s all well…
Almost two years ago, the Saudis acknowledged they had a problem. The price of oil was too low. The oil-rich county had fought a surge in supply from American frackers by opening the taps, and the move pushed oil prices to their lowest level in decades. Even though the Saudis and other OPEC members still…
Yesterday we published our monthly S&P 500 Sector Weightings report for clients. The report provides a detailed historical look at S&P 500 sector weightings, and it’s something clients find very useful. Below we show current S&P 500 sector weightings. Anything stand out? Yes, at 25.78%, the Technology sector now makes up more than a quarter of the S&P 500. That’s…
A review of the day’s trading in the agriculture markets. Video Length: 00:11:11
Millennials make up the largest percentage of our population today, yet have seen some of the lowest labor force participation growth and highest unemployment out of all age groups since the turn of the century. This has larger implications when coupled with slow wage growth, high home prices, and mounting student debt. The general consensus…
The headlines say wholesale sales were up month-over-month with inventory levels remaining elevated. Our analysis shows a deceleration of the rate of growth this month. Analyst Opinion of this month’s Wholesale Sales The improvement this month in the headline data was mostly drugs and farm products. Overall, I believe the rolling averages tell the real…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data from its March Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) yesterday. It got some attention because the job openings figure rose substantially, bringing the job opening rate to 4.3 percent, the highest since the survey was first fielded in December of 2000. This is somewhat higher than the…
There are a lot of positives and a lot of negatives in this market right now. Not all sectors are soaring as you might think. A lot of them are downright miserable. There are also a lot of failed patterns breakouts as you will see below. Those lead the way in terms of worst sectors…
