The consumer sector was on the radar last week for host of reasons. While U.S. growth in the second quarter hit a 33-year low and July’s consumer confidence as measured by the University of Michigan was weaker than expected at 93.1, as well as down from 96.1 in June, stocks and related ETFs got a boost with several consumer…
Who says America has a jobs problem? As the chart below shows, the “New Economy” may pay abysmally, but at least it promises a little to everyone (or to paraphrase a famous phrase “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”). Nowhere is that more obvious than in the chart showing…
Over the past week all of my core market health indicators fell. My measures of market quality are still hanging on, but fell sharply this week. Although they didn’t go negative this week it is likely they will by next Friday unless the market rallies sharply. The core portfolio allocations remain the same. One thing…
Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. “Our marketplace transition continues to gain steam as we delivered another solid quarter,” said Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “Adjusting for currency, all of our businesses in North America and abroad are now growing. Groupon remains an indispensable platform for small businesses…
Many years back while living in New York an interesting situation took place in one of the tunnels connecting New Jersey to Manhattan that’s stuck with me these many years later and taught me invaluable lessons on life and investing. A tractor trailer driver was attempting to cut out the traffic of the bridges and…
There are a number of great companies in the market today. By using the ModernGraham Valuation Model, I’ve selected the five undervalued companies reviewed by ModernGraham trading closest to their 52 week low. Each of these companies has been determined to be suitable for the Defensive Investor according to the ModernGraham approach. Defensive Investors are defined as…
“Davidson” Submits: This week has been full of data releases which continue to receive negative ‘expert media’ bias. Applying ones’ critical thinking is all about not letting your emotions rule your analytical judgment. Unfortunately, it is rarely the case that what we hear from the consensus is free from emotion. As usual, it was all…
A year ago, I wrote a post called, “how to time the market like Warren Buffett,” in which I proposed a very simple market timing method inspired by this passage from the Oracle of Omaha’s 1992 letter to shareholders: The investment shown… to be the cheapest is the one that the investor should purchase.… Moreover, though the…
Venezuela: Real Wages Collapse amid Continuing Crack-Up Boom While the crack-up boom in Venezuela continues, real wages in the country have have utterly collapsed. The bolivar is still trading close to 700 to the US dollar on the black market, and the Caracas stock index keeps making new all time highs in nominal terms almost…
Initial Reaction Today’s job report (for July) once again showed a divergence between the household survey and the establishment survey. The divergence was not as large as last month, but was in the same usual direction: The establishment survey was stronger than the household survey. Household survey employment rose by 101,000 while the establishment survey…
