STOCKS COME BACK, S&P 500 BOUNCE DRIVES GLOBAL RALLY As we open Tuesday of our holiday-shortened week, markets have shown some interesting volatility as we approach the end of Q1. As we mentioned yesterday, with this being a holiday week in observance of Good Friday combined with both month and quarter-end flows, the prospect of ‘peculiar’…
The latest Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index was released this morning based on data collected through March 15. The headline number of 127.7 was a decrease from the final reading of 130.0 for February, a downward revision from 130.8. Today’s number was below the Investing.com consensus of 131.0. Here is an excerpt from the Conference Board press release. “Consumer confidence…
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York, MSCI (MSCI – Free Report) provides decision support tools, including indexes, portfolio risk and performance analytics, and corporate governance products and services to institutional investors. Their applications and solutions help investors in core investment activities, including allocating assets, constructing and optimizing portfolios and understanding and managing investment risk and…
Chairman Powell held his first press conference following the FOMC meeting. It was more concise but just as informative as those of his predecessor. As expected, the FOMC raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, and Chairman Powell delivered a message consistent with his recent testimony, reflecting a continuity…
The stock market’s volatility is very high right now. And by “volatility”, we’re not referring to VIX. We’re referring to the S&P 500’s daily % movements. The stock market’s high volatility right now is not rare. There were a lot of historical periods with high volatility. What’s rare is that the stock market’s high volatility…
The Association of Finance Professionals recently disclosed, via its Corporate Cash Indicators, that U.S. corporations accumulated more cash in the third quarter of 2017 than had been anticipated. This is consistent with other indications: corporations are concerned about the risks of the present environment and are working to ensure they have dry powder on hand….
While Tesla shares have slipped but remain above Nov ’17 lows, Tesla’s bond yields have surged to a new record high (the same a Colombia) and bond short-sellers are adding as the price plunges. 99% of lendable supply for shorting Tesla’s high-yield bond has been used, sending the cost for new short positions in the bond to…
The latest index reading came in at 22.0, up from 21.5 the previous week. RecessionAlert launched an alternative to ECRI’s Weekly Leading Index Growth indicator (WLIg). The Weekly Leading Economic Index (WLEI) uses fifty different time series from these categories: Corporate Bond Composite, Treasury Bond Composite, Stock Market Composite, Labor Market Composite, Credit Market Composite. RecessionAlert emphasizes that…
According to American Pet Products Association, Americans spent close to $70 billion in 2017. About $30 billion were spent on Food, $17 billion on Vet Care, $15 billion on medicines and supplies, $2 billion on animal purchases, and $6 billion on other services. BarkBox is a niche box-subscription service company that caters to dogs. …
The non-seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller home price index (20 cities) year-over-year rate of home price growth rose from 6.3 % to 6.4 %. The index authors stated, “Two factors supporting price increases are the low inventory of homes for sale and the low vacancy rate among owner-occupied housing.” Analyst Opinion of Case-Shiller HPI Many pundits believe…
