Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims The market (from Bloomberg) was expecting the weekly initial unemployment claims at 266 K to 270 K (consensus 269,000) vs the 269,000 reported. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 271,000 (reported last…
In the last trading session, the U.S. stocks fell, erasing all of the gains it made in the previous session. In fact, Dow Jones again slipped into a negative territory for 2015. Among the top ETFs, investors saw (SPY – ETF report) lose 1.0%, (DIA – ETF report) shed 0.8% and (QQQ – ETF report) move lower by 0.6% on the…
In what may have been the most shocking ECB announcement in recent history, moments ago the ECB cut its deposits rate by 10 bps to -0.30%, just as expected. From the ECB press release: At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the deposit facility will be decreased by…
Stock Futures Today Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) today (Thursday) gained 32 points in pre-market hours as investors await word from the leaders of the European Central Bank. The ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to announce further stimulus to bolster the struggling Eurozone. Meanwhile, investors anticipate U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet…
What Drives Returns John Coumarianos, via MarketWatch, penned a very interesting note recently with respect to the view that it is just “volatility” is driving prices. “The great economist John Maynard Keynes once said: ‘Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.’ Few recent…
The GBP/USD pair broke down during the session on Wednesday, as the market looks very soft. The shooting star that formed on Tuesday of course suggests that we were going to try to break down below the bottom of support, which I see as the 1.50 level as it is a large, round, psychologically significant…
Finally, a slew of economic reforms including four rate cuts this year have started to pay off and stimulate growth in Asia’s third-largest economy. This is especially true as India picked up momentum with 7.4% growth in the second quarter (ending September). While this is far below the year-ago growth of 8.9%, it is up…
One recurring word prevails in every single Wall Street reaction to Mario Draghi’s announcement today: “disappointment”… the same disappointment we warned about yesterday, and which we said could push the EURUSD to 1.09 today, just as happened an hour earlier. Here is Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos explaining why he is “Closing Our Shorts” Our premise of…
Private nonfarm payrolls in the US are projected to increase by 193,000 (seasonally adjusted) in tomorrow’s November report from the Labor Department, based on The Capital Spectator’s average point forecast for several econometric estimates. The prediction marks a healthy gain, albeit one that’s substantially below October’s surprisingly strong increase. Two estimates based on recent surveys…
It is nearly impossible to please BlackBerry BBRY bears. In March Mark Hibben excoriated the company, noting how “Almost everything in the Android or iOS device worlds outclasses BlackBerry’s best.” The company responded by introducing the BlackBerry Priv, a premium phone that runs on Android. The Priv has access to Google/Alphabet GOOG ,GOOGL apps and is…
