Is it even possible today to retire rich? The short answer is “yes.” We all know people who have done just that. Watching your neighbors Bob and Betty Rich live the good life well into their 90’s only tells you it’s possible, not whether you’re prepared to do it too. So let’s forget about the…
This noisy data series came in below expectations. However the news is not that bad as the year-over-year growth of income is growing faster than expenditures. The market looks at current values (not real inflation adjusted) and was expecting:. In other words, both income and spending were slightly below expectations. The monthly fluctuations…
The overwhelming majority of forecasters in late 2013, believed that interest rates in 2014 would rise. They were wrong. Rates mostly went down. Two leading bond fund managers (Bill Gross and Jeff Gundlach) believed rates would remain low. They were right. Once again, most economists and primary Treasury dealers, and some Fed governors, expect that the Fed will begin raising the Fed…
Personal income and spending posted modest gains in today’s October update from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), albeit at monthly rates (+0.2% on both counts) that fell short of the crowd’s expectations. The usual suspects will fuss over the monthly comparisons and try to spin context out of noise with the data, but there’s more…
The EU President Jean-Claude Juncker has announced a €315 bn investment scheme in yet another attempt to try to kick-start the economy, and create 1.3 million jobs. These schemes are hopeless because they keep hunting capital and raising taxes. Without confidence in the future, people will not invest or expand their business to offset…
Having surged to last October’s highs last month, Chicago PMI tumbled back to mediocrity in November, missing exuberant expectations by the most since July. As 60.8 (against 63.0 expectations) this is barely above the levels of Q1’s polar vortex as New Orders, Employment, and Production all fell (with only 2 components rising). This is the…
The following is an excerpt from Rich As A King: How the Wisdom of Chess Can Make You a Grandmaster of Investing. by Douglas Goldstein and Susan Polgar. The center of the chessboard consists of four squares. In order to maintain a strong position during a game of chess, make sure you dominate at least two of them….
The headlines say the durable goods new orders improved. Our analysis agrees – and if you ignore defense aircraft, durable goods were again very soft month-over-month. Econintersect Analysis: unadjusted new orders growth accelerated 0.3% (after decelerating a revised 2.1% the previous month) month-over-month , but is up 5.4% year-over-year. the three month rolling average for unadjusted new orders decelerated 10.6% month-over-month, and up 5.9%…
In the middle of November, the CEO of Vodafone (ADR) Vittorio Colao warned of a “prisoner’s dilemma” in the efforts to offer bundled television and broadband services. It makes sense for a company to seek unique content to differentiate it from others. However, if all the providers try to secure exclusive content, it triggers an arms…
