MarketWatch.com – Earnings may get bumpy as weaker sectors report The sectors with some of the worst earnings outlooks—industrials, natural resources and consumer—will dominate corporate headlines next week, setting up a bumpy ride for stocks after a new record-breaking run. In the coming week, nearly a third of the S&P 500 Index SPX +0.20% reports… Continue reading An Earnings Update
Bloomberg.com – Gold Futures Advance Most in a Year on U.S. Stimulus Outlook Gold gained the most in more than a year on speculation that the Federal Reserve will maintain U.S. economic stimulus, boosting the appeal of the precious metal as a store of value. Silver also surged. Bullion rose 1.3 percent last week, capping… Continue reading An Updated Look At Gold
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch.com – Overbought market conditions are building up As the Standard & Poors 500 Index and other major indexes continue to make new all-time highs, there is no technical resistance to hold them back. “Resistance” is a technical term, referring to price levels at which previous advances have failed;… Continue reading Too Much Love For Stocks?
The Telegraph – Europe’s crisis states should fight back with a ‘debtors’ cartel’ The latest figures from Eurostat are shocking even to those who never believed that combined fiscal and monetary contraction – made worse by bank curbs – could have any other result than a faster rise in debt trajectories. Portugal’s debt has just… Continue reading European Debt To GDP
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Unconventional Policy, Conventional Fed Ben Bernanke, rather than ride out his last six months as Federal Reserve chairman in relative peace and contentment, has chosen to initiate a debate on tapering the Fed’s asset purchases, sending long-term interest rates soaring. Why? Economist and blogger Tim Duy says the whole debate seems… Continue reading The Federal Reserve
The Wall Street Journal – Housing Recovery Increasingly Prices Out First-Time Buyers The depressed level of first-time buyers could prove to be a drag on the housing rebound and the broader economic recovery over the longer haul. First-time home buyers are the foundation of the real-estate market and are major contributors to their local economies,… Continue reading First-Time Home Buyers Could Drag The Housing Market
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Plays Part at the (Profit) Margins The hefty profit margins U.S. companies have been delivering in recent years have been variously ascribed to cost cutting, productivity gains and globalization. Another reason might be the miracle of low interest rates. Second-quarter results are pouring in, and once again profit growth… Continue reading Corporate Profits And The Federal Reserve
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Seen Tapering QE to $65 Billion in September in Survey Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke in September will trim the Fed’s monthly bond buying to $65 billion from the current pace of $85 billion, according to a growing number of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Half of economists held that view… Continue reading Taper Talk
CNBC.com – Watch out, US crude prices could correct 35%: Analyst The price of U.S. crude may have caught up with North Sea Brent oil prices in the past week, but now looks overvalued and faces a sharp pull back of up to 35 percent, says one analyst. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has risen about… Continue reading Is Crude Oil Due For A Correction?
The Wall Street Journal – David Malpass: The Economy Is Showing Signs of Life The U.S. economy may finally be in a position to accelerate above the so-called new normal—the painfully slow 2% average growth rate that has persisted since 2009. Four very lean years culminated in a near-recession at the end of 2012, but… Continue reading The U.S. Economy
FT Alphaville – Fighting the taper in China China is leaking. It’s probably America’s fault. China is, after all, the the most exposed to the quantity effect of liquidity withdrawal due to QE tapering and may have the most difficulty dealing with it. From Nomura on Monday, for example: Foreign exchange purchases by financial institutions… Continue reading China