Tag Archives: unemployment

Consumer Sentiment – down but still not down enough.

Over many years I’ve marveled at how reliable consumer sentiment has been as a contrarian indicator.  When it reaches rock bottom then the markets, followed by the economy begin to recover from a crisis – whether a recession or financial.  … Continue reading

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Since when is the weather an economic barometer? Absurd!

Most of the economic data we’ve been seeing (don’t forget it’s historical data) belies the common thinking that the weather has been dampening economic growth.  The just reported U.S. GDP revision for the 4th quarter (up from 2.4% to 2.6%) … Continue reading

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High Consumer Confidence is bad news for stock market!

The latest consumer confidence release shows a significant improvement. “Rising home prices and a rising stock market are two key factors that are boosting consumer confidence. And a third factor is rising strength in the jobs market. The consumer confidence … Continue reading

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Does divergence of stocks and commodities tell us anything at all?

I read a blurb from Business Insider – entitled One Of The Biggest Arguments Of Fed Haters Is Getting Obliterated Before Our Eyes – discussing the adjacent chart (published on May 15th) that still has me confused. Here is a … Continue reading

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Bonds at risk, inflation threat and stocks fully valued!

In mid-October the S&P 500 Index was at 1428.50 and I suggested (despite all the pessimism at that time) that if rates and inflation remained steady we could see the index move 20% higher. To be precise I reasoned: For … Continue reading

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Gurus cannot time markets? I’ll tell you who can!

Studies examining former market calls (like checking the rear view mirror) of experts suggest that the ability of ‘gurus’ to predict markets is less than 50%.  Slightly worse than flipping a coin.  In my book I pick on a couple of very … Continue reading

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U.S. Employment: It’s getting better all the time!

Although I’ll stick to my warning about the annual perils associated with stock markets during the 3rdQ (i.e. best to avoid – see previous postings) I do keep track of what’s going on in the economy by monitoring what I’ve … Continue reading

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Olympic Rally or the Real McCoy?

Back in early June, I posted Yogi Berra – as good an investment strategist as any! in which I suggested : “If financial turmoil continues unabated and rates remain extremely low, things could go very well for the stock markets, especially … Continue reading

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Money Flows and Regulatory Overkill!

I was reading an interesting article about the U.S. JOBS (Jumpstart our Business Act) which in effect begins to unwind some of the so-called “investor protection” constraints imposed by the excessive reactionary measures contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank laws.  … Continue reading

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Your future: Work hard & earn less!

Unemployment is the dominant issue of the new millenium. I recall government leaders boasting that economic growth without job creation is simply the byproduct of rapid productivity growth…thanks to quantum leaps in technological innovation “we” get more for less. Indeed … Continue reading

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