CNBC – The industry that opposed Trump the most has performed best in his first 100 days Despite loud opposition from tech firms to many of Trump’s policies, investors have hoisted many tech stocks to all-time highs since the election. Shares of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet have hit one all-time high after another in… Continue reading An Updated Look At The FAANG Stocks
ETF Trends – Oil ETFs Drubbed, But Some Argue for Upside For example, USO, one of the most heavily traded commodities exchange traded products of any stripe, slid more than 5%, but some market observers believe oil’s most recent plunge is not justified by poor fundamentals. In fact, Goldman Sachs opines that oil fundamentals are… Continue reading Crude Oil And Energy ETFs
Comment The chart below provides a historical look at the yields of various Treasury instruments as well as Moody’s yields. Some of the data dates back to 1790. In the case of the 10-year note, the following data sets have been spliced together: 1790 to 1831: 3% British Consols 1831 to 1919: High Grade Long-Term… Continue reading A Long Term Look At Interest Rates
Bloomberg – Beyond Weak First Quarter, Trump’s Growth Goal Getting Tougher GDP seen bouncing back but not reaching president’s target Gross domestic product probably expanded at a 1 percent annualized rate from January through March, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. As some transitory drags dissipate, economists project a second-quarter rebound… Continue reading Investors’ Risk-on Bias Fading
Financial Times – Trump’s first 100 days: the market’s scorecard With his 100th day in the White House falling on Saturday, investors have more nuanced ideas. For much of 2017 financial markets have doubted the global “Trump trade”, reversing many of last year’s seismic post-election moves. But some argue that pessimism is now so endemic that… Continue reading Trends in ETFs During Trump’s First 100 Days
Bloomberg Business – Fed Economists Map Link Between Balance Sheet and Treasury Yield It would be very difficult to calculate a speed limit for cutting the balance sheet while keeping to those two goals, said Luke Tilley, chief economist at money manager Wilmington Trust Corp. “There’s a considerable amount of uncertainty over how much impact it… Continue reading Reducing The Fed’s Balance Sheet And Treasury Yields
MarketWatch.com – U.S. home-price growth climbs at fastest rate in nearly three years Case-Shiller index sees fastest growth since mid-2014 U.S. house prices continued to show no signs of slowing, hitting their highest in nearly three years as demand remains hot, especially in the Pacific Northwest and Dallas. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index rose 5.9% in the… Continue reading Housing Outperforming Expectations
Bloomberg Business – Trump’s 15% Corporate Tax Push Sets Stage for Clash With Ryan House speaker has said it’s difficult to offset 15% rate President Donald Trump’s plan to slash the corporate tax rate to 15 percent is setting up a showdown with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has called for a tax plan to pay for… Continue reading Trump’s Plan To Cut The Corporate Tax Rate
MarketWatch.com – Caroline Baum: It’s a nominal world, after all Economists tend to focus on real, or inflation-adjusted, variables: measures such as real gross domestic product, real personal income and spending, and real interest rates. The rest of us live in a nominal world, at least in the short run: a 10% increase in the… Continue reading Nominal vs. Real Wages