MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – A Market Conundrum: Investors Shrug Off Solid Earnings Corporate earnings season is winding down and so far the results have been solid. But the second quarter has failed to impress investors. Shares of S&P 500 companies that beat analysts’ earnings forecasts averaged a 0.3% decline over the two days before and… Continue reading Good Earnings Results Do Not Necessarily Help Stock Returns
The Financial Times – Oil ‘backwardation’ a key test for sentiment Oil trader sentiment hangs in the balance, and while fears of another collapse in the price are contained, the odds of a further move to take it significantly higher than $50 a barrel appear slim. A stream of positive data showing shrinking US oil… Continue reading Crude Oil Sentiment
CBS MoneyWatch – The big problem with this stock market The Dow Jones Industrials index continues to hover around the 22,000 level, as fears over a nuclear exchange with North Korea fade somewhat. But evidence that something is amiss deep in the bowels of the stock market continues to grow. The most cursory corroborating point is… Continue reading Lack Of Market Breadth Worries Some Investors
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Self-Driving Cars Could Transform Jobs Held by 1 in 9 U.S. Workers Self-driving vehicles have the potential to reshape a wide range of occupations held by roughly one in nine American workers, according to a new U.S. government report. About 3.8 million people drive taxis, trucks, ambulances and other vehicles… Continue reading How Many Jobs Could Be Affected By Driverless Cars?
The Financial Times – Central banks holding a fifth of their governments’ debt Leading central banks now own a fifth of their governments’ total debt, a sign of the scale of the challenge they will face in unwinding unprecedented stimulus measures deployed over the past decade…In total, the six central banks that have embarked on… Continue reading Central Banks Own A Large Portion Of Debt
MarketWatch.com – Tepper says Wall Street ‘nowhere near an overheated’ stock market Billionaire David Tepper thinks comparing this current stock-market environment with the overheated markets of 1999 is “ridiculous.” The hedge-fund manager, who runs Appaloosa Management, told CNBC in a phone interview on Tuesday that the market’s record run, notwithstanding last week’s pullback for the S&P… Continue reading David Tepper Talks Stocks
Summary The health care sector in the U.S. has had three weeks to digest the failure of GOP-led health care reform. We’ve noted recent weakness in biotechnology in both ETFs and some investment grade spreads. What follows is a closer look at how health care has performed in both assets since the July 25 Senate… Continue reading Health Care Sector After Failed Reform Bill
The Financial Times – Bearish bets on dollar rise ahead of Fed meeting Sentiment grows that central bank will not raise interest rates again this year The US dollar rebounded on Monday but a respite may be shortlived, with bearish bets on the currency rising to the highest level in more than three years as doubts… Continue reading Speculators Bet Against The Dollar
Bloomberg – The President and the Market In general, stock-market performance is a poor measure of presidential prowess. Still, the president raises interesting questions. Why have U.S. shares done so well since the election, and is there more to come? If you were smart enough to know the answers, of course, you’d be smart enough… Continue reading Politics & The Markets
The Hill – Trump approval falls to lowest level ever in Gallup poll President Trump’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest level ever in a Gallup tracking poll. The president’s approval rating is only 34 percent in the latest Gallup average released Monday, while 61 percent of adults disapprove of the president’s performance, also a new high.… Continue reading Trump’s Approval Hits A New Low
Bloomberg.com – With Next Recession Looming, Central Banks Better Make Peace With Negative Rates With U.S. economy due for pullback, analysts ponder stimulus Supply of debt with negative yields surged in the past month Negative interest rates are back in the spotlight. Investors and analysts are redoubling their warnings that with global borrowing costs already so low,… Continue reading A Look At Negative Yielding Bonds