The Philly Fed’s Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey is a monthly report for the Third Federal Reserve District, covers eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. While it focuses exclusively on business in this district, this regional survey gives a generally reliable clue as to the direction of the broader Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index. The latest Manufacturing Index…
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says 100 million people pay for Amazon Prime. This is the first time Bezos disclosed the number. The WSJ reports Amazon Prime Has More Than 100 Million Members. Amazon, which has never disclosed the number of Prime members before, revealed the figure in Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s closely followed annual letter to…
This is a first: The European Central Bank (ECB) has asked Deutsche Bank to calculate the impact of selling one of its trading positions as it is considering withdrawing from the investment bank. It wants to know if Germany’s largest bank can come out of this activity without guarantees from the State or German taxpayers’…
FAANG + BAT Considered The Most Crowded Trade The chart below shows the fund manager survey which asks what the most crowded trade was in April. As you can see, long FAANG and BAT was said to be the most crowded although it lost ground, falling to 33%. With NFLX’s rally on Tuesday after its subscriber beat,…
2018 hasn’t been a good year for the US stock market and we expect more volatility going forward. We might very well see new lows in the coming months. Judging from the general media coverage the reason for stock market volatility primarily has to be found on Pennsylvania Avenue 1600 – i.e. in the White…
Over the past, oh, I don’t know, four weeks or so, we’ve talked a lot about what “caused” February’s rout (inflation scare coupled with the realization of the VIX ETP rebalance risk, subsequent VIX spike and forced de-risking by the systematic crowd) and what factors have recently conspired to constrain the market’s ability to fully…
After missing earnings estimates five straight times, Philip Morris International Inc. (PM – Free Report) delivered a beat in first-quarter 2018. Moreover, top and bottom lines grew year over year and management also raised its bottom-line view for 2018, courtesy of the tax reforms. However, these factors were not enough to placate investors, who were let down by the…
Since the advent of nineteenth-century socialism, politicians and economists in the centre ground have argued for a balanced approach, where vital services are provided by the state, and capitalism is left to provide the rest. Vital services in a modern economy are taken to include pensions, unemployment and disability benefits, healthcare and education. Most states…
Yesterday’s dovish BOC statement send USD/CAD back above the 1.2600 figure — a move that no doubt pleased the Canadian monetary officials who want to see the value of the currency remain relatively low. But the rally could be short-lived if the data continues to surprise to the upside. Tommorrow the market will get a…
Yesterday’s dovish BOC statement send USD/CAD back above the 1.2600 figure — a move that no doubt pleased the Canadian monetary officials who want to see the value of the currency remain relatively low. But the rally could be short-lived if the data continues to surprise to the upside. Tommorrow the market will get a…
