The ongoing money market adjustment remains ongoing, perhaps that tautology is the most that can be interpreted from continuing mixed signals to this point though the longer nonconformities continue the more innocence is threatened. Recognizing again that this is still early in the process, there are some indications that resistance is real and even understandable….
Of the four regional Federal Reserve surveys released to date, three are in contraction and one is in expansion. The market expected values (from Bloomberg) from 0 to +4 (consensus +1) with the actual survey value at +6 [note that values above zero represent expansion]. Fifth District manufacturing activity grew modestly in December, according to…
Is it the “smart money” or the “dumb money” that has been seeking safer portfolio pastures throughout 2015? Time itself will tell. That said, riskier assets have been buckling clear across the asset board. Consider the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF): iShares iBoxx High Yield Bond ETF (HYG) price ratio. A rising IEF:HYG…
Back in August, we brought you “One Country’s Grim Assessment Of Greece’s Future” in which we highlighted comments from Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini. “Truth is the strongest force. We should admit that this isn’t going to work,” Soini said, criticizing Brussels’ decision to back a third bailout program for Athens after a summer of…
On the Investor Insights blog we have been providing a great deal of coverage on the divergences between the “haves” and “have nots”. The performance chasing in high flying stocks like Amazon, Netflix, Google, and Facebook has created a wide gap between the “average” stock in the S&P 500 Index. Here is an interesting statistic from Bespoke…
Inventories are rising—and that’s scary. After a very long-run trend of leaner inventories, companies are now holding significantly more than they did just four years ago. Excess inventories are an easy way to go bankrupt, so this movement deserves attention. At the end of 2011, companies held $1.26 worth of inventory for every dollar’s worth…
The development of self-driving cars has become one of the hottest areas in both the tech and automotive sectors today. Nobody wants to be left behind in a market of this size, so there is a growing urgency being placed on autonomous driving programs among almost all of the major players in both industries. Related to this,…
Existing homes sales plunged 10.5% this month which the NAR attributes to an initiative called “Know Before You Owe“. Economists, apparently unaware of “Know Before You Owe”, came up with a consensus estimate of 5.320 million sales, SAAR ( seasonally adjusted annualized rate), the same as last month. New closing rules appear to have depressed sales of…
Paychex Inc. (PAYX – Snapshot Report) reported mixed results for second-quarter fiscal 2016 wherein the bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate but top line missed the same. Nevertheless, the company marked year-over-year improvement on both the counts. Earnings of 52 cents per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny and jumped 10.6% from the year-ago…
Micron MU is set to report quarterly earnings after the bell Tuesday. Analysts expect revenue of $3.46 billion and EPS of $0.23. The revenue estimate is down 4% sequentially, which follows a 7% sequential decline last quarter. Micron’s story is a mixed bag, but here are the two items investors should focus on this quarter:…
