The Wall Street Journal – Stock Market Keeps Its Faith in Humanity After Years of Losing Ground to Computers, Human-Based Stock Trading Is Holding Its Own After years of ceding ground to trading via computer programs, buying and selling stock the old-fashioned way—over the phone or its modern equivalent of instant messaging—is holding its own.… Continue reading Are Machines Taking Over Wall Street?
The Wall Street Journal – Currency Trading Falls Into Torpor Steady Interest Rates, Low Volatility Discourage Investors From Making Bets Currency-trading volume is shrinking at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, the latest sign of the placid conditions that have frustrated traders in markets around the globe this year. The amount of money changing… Continue reading Currency Trading
The Washington Examiner – Obama’s approval numbers deep in the tank again President Obama’s approval rating declined this week by three points to 39 percent, down from its previous posting of 42 percent, according to the latest Gallup polling data. The new data, which Gallup collects daily and has a margin of error of plus… Continue reading Obama’s Approval Slumps
The Wall Street Journal – Electric Utilities Get No Jolt From Gadgets, Improving Economy Electricity Sales Anemic for Seventh Year in a Row Utility executives across the country are reaching the same conclusion. Even though Americans are plugging in more gadgets than ever and the unemployment rate had dropped at one point to a level… Continue reading Electricity Consumption As An Economic Indicator
CNN/Money – Psychics are bullish on stocks The bull market, which has been running for more than five years, still has some life left in it, according to a survey of market strategists CNNMoney conducted in July. On average, the strategists we polled expect the S&P 500 to gain 8.8% this year. That’s all well… Continue reading Psychics Are Bullish!
(h/t The Big Picture)
Zacks.com – Is the Q2 Earnings Improvement Sustainable? We are in the heart of the Q2 earnings season with a deluge of announcements this week. In total, we should see Q2 reports from close to 1000 companies, including 149 S&P 500 members. The bulk of the reporting season will be behind us by the end… Continue reading An Earnings Update
The Wall Street Journal – Time to Take Measure of Fuzzy U.S. Growth Accounting Two years ago the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in the first quarter of 2012. Revisions over the next two months marked that number down to 1.9%. Then last summer the Commerce… Continue reading Revisions To GDP Methodology Coming With Wednesday’s Q2 Release
The Financial Times – Wolfgang Münchau: The west risks collateral damage by punishing Russia In terms of how the sanctions will affect the west more broadly, Francesco Papadia, formerly at the European Central Bank, has estimated in a recent article that the impact on the EU will be about two-thirds higher than on the US.… Continue reading Russia
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Chinese Data Don’t Add Up China’s second-quarter growth came in at a 7.5% annual rate, up from 7.4% in the first quarter, bringing it in line with the government’s full-year target. That, along with reports such as Thursday’s stronger-than-expected preliminary purchasing managers index from HSBC,… Continue reading China
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Fed’s Rate Debate Looks Set to Heat Up Bond-Buying Wind-Down Likely to Continue at Policy Meeting Federal Reserve officials will likely move closer to ending their purchases of mortgage and Treasury bonds at a policy meeting this coming week and discuss when and how to raise interest rates. … Continue reading FOMC Policy
The New York Times – Heads or Tails? Either Way, You Might Beat a Stock Picker Imagine a world where investors in the stock market have no skill whatsoever. The investors themselves don’t understand this, however, and many truly believe that they are good at what they do. But in this thought experiment, there’s no… Continue reading The Art Of Stock Picking