The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seasonally adjusted pending home sales index declined. Our analysis of pending home sales is more rosey – and projects relatively good home sales. The quote of the day from this NAR release: The demand is there for more sales, but the determining factor will be whether or not some…
As protests erupt in Athens ahead of the Parliamentary vote and the latest deal with the European Union, protestor’s continue to riot in the streets with petrol bombs as a backdrop. It appears the only ones rejoicing at the likely passage of the debt and reform deal are likely to be stock investors who are…
What’s happening to transports? Is it a case of missed signals, or mixed signals? And how would Sherlock Holmes unlock the secret? Ah, the power of observation! As the great Sherlock Holmes would say to Dr. Watson, it’s elementary. There have many books written on the superior skills of deductive reasoning the talented Sherlock Holmes…
Introduction The primary attractions supporting investing in bonds or other fixed income instruments have traditionally been high income and safety. People invest their principal in bonds and receive a stated interest rate (coupon) over the life of the bond and are given the promise of having their principal returned at maturity. Under normal times, bonds…
(Photo Credit: phototainable) Whole Foods Market (WFM) reports its FQ3 ’15 result after the closing bell today. Whole Foods has struggled year-to-date (YTD) recording a share price decline of circa -20.71% relative to the NASDAQ which has appreciated just over 6.5%. The fall in Whole Foods stock price is largely attributed to its poor FQ2 ’15 result…
Earlier today the National Association of Realtors released the June data for their Pending Home Sales Index. The NAR reports that “after five consecutive months of increases, pending home sales slipped in June but remained near May’s level, the highest in over nine years” (more here). The chart below gives us a snapshot of the index…
Total US crude production slumped over 1.5% last week – the biggest decline since October 2013. Add to that a considerable inventory draw of over 4.2mm barrels (against expectations of a build)… and crude prices are surging. Charts: Bloomberg
Altria Group Inc. (MO) is one of the leading manufacturers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products in the U.S. Altria has seen soft volume trends for the past few quarters, due to a general shift away from tobacco products amid accelerating prices of cigarettes and worldwide anti-tobacco campaigns. The company is thus putting greater focus on…
The year 2008 was full of nasty surprises. One of the biggest was the government takeover of twin mortgage giants Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, or Fannie Mae) and Federal Housing Lending Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, or Freddie Mac). The takeover happened almost overnight. Homes values were sinking fast. Between the two companies, they guaranteed most…
Sales of new Machine Tools (blue line) bumped up in June. From EDA Apparently they adjust this data but don’t make mention of revisions. The graphical representation through May, while still weak, is different from the last release per this post. Again, my contact’s input… “Just an update for you, some disturbing news has leaked out this week….
