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September 2017 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Significantly Worsens – Thank Hurricane Harvey

September 2017 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Significantly Worsens – Thank Hurricane Harvey

This week we have the Hurricane Harvey affect. The market expectations for weekly initial unemployment claims (from Bloomberg / Econoday) were 235 K to 246 K (consensus 239,000), and the Department of Labor reported 298,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the […]
Copper, Oil, Gold And US Stocks: Big Picture Status

Copper, Oil, Gold And US Stocks: Big Picture Status

Sometimes I like to trot these lumbering monthlies out so we can quiet everything down and see where various markets are slowly heading. First of all, as I go down with my ‘strengthening US dollar’ ship*, I also mal-projected copper’s upside. I’d felt that $3/lb. would cap Doctor Copper because it is very clear lateral […]
Market Valuation, Inflation And Treasury Yields: Clues From The Past – Thursday, September 7

Market Valuation, Inflation And Treasury Yields: Clues From The Past – Thursday, September 7

Note: The charts in this commentary have been updated to include the latest monthly data. Our monthly market valuation updates have long had the same conclusion: US stock indexes are significantly overvalued, which suggests cautious expectations on investment returns. In a “normal” market environment — one with conventional business cycles, Federal Reserve policy, interest rates and inflation — […]
It’s Falling Apart: Yields Hit YTD Lows, Stocks Fall As Reality Sinks In

It’s Falling Apart: Yields Hit YTD Lows, Stocks Fall As Reality Sinks In

Ok, it’s all falling apart now. As Bloomberg notes, “10Y futs just rose more than 10 ticks on heavy volume with the price topping the earlier session high 127-13 [while] S&P futures are continuing to pare gains from the cash open.” It looks like between jitters about Hurricane Irma, a sense that another ICBM launch […]
Brexit Blues

Brexit Blues

The UK parliament has reconvened after its summer recess, but negotiations between representatives of the EU and the UK have been taking place with the aim of settling the financial obligations that the UK owes the bloc; the rights of EU citizens in the UK post Brexit and those of their counterparts living in EU […]
Dovish Draghi Defers Taper, Stimulus Exit; Euro Bulls Undeterred

Dovish Draghi Defers Taper, Stimulus Exit; Euro Bulls Undeterred

At this morning’s European Central Bank rate decision, market participants walked-in with the legitimate prospect of hearing how the ECB may look to taper their asset purchase program ahead of the designated end date of December 2017. Throughout this year, European economic data has remained strong, further highlighting signs of recovery in the Euro-Zone and […]
Northwest Biotherapeutics, Bristol-Myers Squibb: Success For The Yervoy-Opdivo Combination

Northwest Biotherapeutics, Bristol-Myers Squibb: Success For The Yervoy-Opdivo Combination

The stoppage at an interim analysis of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s’ CHECKMATE-214 trial provides meaningful information into assessing the potential fro success of Northwest Biotherapeutics’ phase 3, DCVax-L trial. CHECKMATE-214 compared a combination the immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy to Sutent (standard of care) in previously untreated, advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The trial was […]
What Wage Growth? Unit Labor Costs Decline Despite So-Called “Tight Labor Market”

What Wage Growth? Unit Labor Costs Decline Despite So-Called “Tight Labor Market”

Despite all the hope for higher incomes spewing from within the various soft-surveys of individuals and businesses across America, Q2 saw unit labor costs decline 0.2% year-over-year – the second YoY drop in the last 3 quarters. Despite all the great news about lowe eunemployment rates and solid payrolls prints, aggregate unit labor costs for America are […]
EURUSD: Pressure Builds Up On The 1.2069 Zone

EURUSD: Pressure Builds Up On The 1.2069 Zone

EURUSD: With the pair seen rallying strongly on Thursday, further bullishness is likely in the days ahead. Resistance comes in at 1.2069 level with a cut through here opening the door for more upside towards the 1.2100 level. Further up, resistance lies at the 1.2150 level where a break will expose the 1.2200 level. Its […]
Investor Sentiment Improves From Depressed Levels

Investor Sentiment Improves From Depressed Levels

In last week’s update on investor sentiment, we noted that the extremely depressed levels of bullishness that we saw in the latest AAII survey seemed “a bit overdone.”  In this week’s update, we did see an improvement in optimism, but overall, sentiment remains muted at best.  In this week’s survey, bullish sentiment increased from 25.0% up to 29.28%. So, […]