“We who are born into this age of freedom and independence and the self must undergo this loneliness. It is the price we pay for these times of ours.” – Natsume Sôseki “The issue isn’t just jobs. Even slaves had jobs. The issue is wages.” – Jim Hightower The headline ‘Jobs Number’ came in…
2014 was a lousy year for global value investors. Cheap markets, as measured by the cyclically-adjusted price/earnings ratio (“CAPE”) got even cheaper, while expensive markets got even pricier. (Note: the CAPE takes a ten-year average of earnings as a way of smoothing out the economic cycle and allowing for better comparisons over time.) I expect…
Let me preface this post by saying this is really more of a curiosity than anything actionable but I found it rather interesting. My last post focused on the possibility of 2015 being another 1999. This post looks at one indicator that may suggest 2015 rhymes better with 2000. There has been a fair amount of…
Quite a day and quite a week… and quite an ugly close… The S&P – closing down 0.5% – had the worst first week of the year since 2009. Stocks ended the day red (but don’t blame the dreadful labor data under the surface because headlines were great – instead blame France!)… with an ugly…
Over the past week the majority of our core market health indicators fell. Most significantly was our core measure of risk. It bounced back and forth between positive and negative, but managed to eek out a win and stay above zero near the close on Friday. As a result, there are no changes to our…
Over the past week the majority of our core market health indicators fell. Most significantly was our core measure of risk. It bounced back and forth between positive and negative, but managed to eek out a win and stay above zero near the close on Friday. As a result, there are no changes to our…
While the broader market indices sold off on Monday, shares of Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) bucked that trend by rising a modest 0.33% on relatively light trading. Shares of the California-based retailer closed the trading day at $18, or $0.06 over last Friday’s closing price of $17.94. Interestingly, the stock price moved higher without a corresponding increase…
Average hourly earnings for all employees unexpectedly declined 0.2%, $0.06 per hour in December vs. November. This was the largest month-to-month percentage drop since the data series began in 2006. The following charts will help put wages in perspective, on an annual basis (percent change in wages vs. wages the same month a year ago). Average Wages…
Yesterday’s WSJ article on rising auto loan delinquencies had a familiar ring. It focused on sub-prime borrowers who were missing payments within a few months of the vehicle purchase. Needless to say, that’s exactly the manner in which early signs of the subprime mortgage crisis appeared in late 2006 and early 2007. More than 8.4% of…
Via Goldman Sachs, Elections a potential driver of market volatility Eight EU countries are due to have parliamentary elections in 2015. Several contests have the potential to drive market volatility. As a result of the high economic costs of austerity and economic adjustment, populist parties have gained at the expense of the mainstream political establishment….
