As we enter the final month of the year, the markets advance got me thinking about something known as the “Unstoppable Force Paradox.” While you may not be familiar with the name, you will certainly know the definition which questions “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?” Even Frank Sinatra sang about it in “Something’s Gotta…
Note from dshort: I’ve updated this analysis to include today’s release of the November Employment Report. Official recession calls are the responsibility of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, which is understandably vague about the specific indicators on which they base their decisions. This committee statement is about as close as they get to identifying their method. There…
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC – Snapshot Report) reported second-quarter fiscal 2015 (ending Oct 31, 2014) earnings from continuing operations of 9 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2 cents. The number was, however, lower than the year-ago earnings of 28 cents per share as sales remained weak. Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation –…
Consider: European stocks just closed at their highest since Jan 2008; Spanish bond yields hit a record low 1.803% and Spanish youth unemployment hovers near a record high 53.8%; Italian bond yields hit a record low 1.72% and Italian youth unemployment is at a record 43.3%. So once again we ask, why exactly does Europe need…
Everyday I receive anguished emails from concerned citizens regarding the state of the economy, Wall Street, the political-financial system, and how their future stability is impacted by the powers that be. This one stood out for its clarity, as well as being indicative of one of the many ways in which the banking system regularly…
Amgen (AMGN) reported on December 3, 2014 that the FDA has approved their Leukemia drug Blincyto (blinatumomab) for the treatment of Philadelphia Chromosome-negative Relapsed or Refractory B-cell precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This disease is an uncommon form of blood cancer where patients had few or no treatment options. With the approval of Blincyto patients now…
China has officially surpassed the United States as the largest economy in the world, based upon economic output as measured by the International Monetary Fund. China’s production of real goods and services will touch about $17.6 trillion this year, while the US will produce $17.4 trillion. This gap will continue to grow, according to the IMF….
As long as corporations continue borrowing money to buy back their own stocks and the yen keeps dropping, the SPX will continue lofting higher. Why is the S&P 500 rising, even as valuations are getting stretched, profit growth is declining and sales are stagnant? Two charts explain it all. Here is a chart showing the S&P…
The U.S. Daily Cash Deficit for Thursday 12/4/2014 was $6.2B bringing the December 2014 Deficit through 4 days to $66B. As is typical, I have taken the liberty of adjusting by days of the week in an attempt to sync up 2014 and 2013 to give us a little bit more accurate picture of the…
