US Dollar Grasps On To Gains As Pressure Continues To Build In The S&P
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
US EQUITY SLUMP CONTINUES The big item over the past 24 hours is another bearish move in US equities. Yesterday’s late-session sell-off reversed the entirety of Monday’s gains, and the sell-off ran all the way until the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement of the February-March move came into play around 2594. This was the same zone of prices that had helped […]
Intel Is Ringing The Bell Toward Higher Prices
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Intel led the semiconductors in a big way. During last week’s market carnage there was little to be seen that offered some good opportunity. In fact, we had to wait until the markets pulled out of its funk to find out where the heavy hitters were revealed. Monday the 26th was the day, and we […]
February 2018 Pending Home Sales Seasonally Adjusted Index Improves
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seasonally adjusted pending home sales index improved. Our analysis disagrees – and further pending home sales are in contraction year-over-year. The quote of the day from this NAR release: .. weakening affordability and not enough inventory on the market restricted overall activity compared to a year ago … Analyst Opinion of […]
Early Withdrawal From Retirement Plans
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
If you are retiring before the “normal” retirement age of 59½ or older, or if you find yourself in need of money, you may need to make an early withdrawal from your retirement plan. An early withdrawal from your retirement plan is not without consequences – there will be taxes for sure, and quite possibly […]
Pending Home Sales Bounce Back In February
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
This morning the National Association of Realtors released the February data for their Pending Home Sales Index. Here is an excerpt from the latest press release: Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market has gotten off to an uneven start so far in 2018. “Contract signings rebounded in most areas in February, but […]
WTI/RBOB Rebound Despite Biggest Cushing Build In A Year & Record Crude Production
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
WTI/RBOB extended losses following API’s surprisingly large crude build (not helped by risk-off and dollar’s spike), but jumped initially after DOE reported a smaller-than-API crude build of 1.64mm. WTI prices shrugged off the fact that US Crude production hit a new record high. API Crude +5.321mm (+850k exp) Cushing +1.655mm (+1mm exp) Gasoline -5.799mm Distillates -2.23mm DOE Crude +1.64mm […]
Adobe, Nvidia Announce Partnership For AI Services For Creativity
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Adobe (ADBE) and Nvidia (NVDA) announced a strategic partnership via which the companies will work to optimize the Adobe Sensei AI and machine learning framework for Nvidia GPUs. “The collaboration will speed time to market and improve performance of new Sensei-powered services for Adobe Creative Cloud and Experience Cloud customers and developers,” the companies stated. […]
New Research Foretells QE Domination
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
The title refers to a consensus-shattering paper that was unveiled at the University of Chicago last month before a Who’s Who of economists and central bankers. Paul Krugman gave the keynote, but the meeting’s focus was on the paper’s authors—two Wall Street big shots, Morgan Stanley’s David Greenlaw and Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Ethan Harris, and two academics, James Hamilton and Kenneth […]
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The Fed Boosts Its U.S. Economic Forecast And Increases The Federal Funds Rate
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
“The Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting strong labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation.” (The Federal Reserve’s FOMC Statement, March 21, 2018.) The Federal Reserve’s first meeting under Chairman Jerome Powell hinted […]
BEA Revises 4th Quarter 2017 GDP Growth Upward To 2.88%
Mar 28, 2018
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
In their third (and final) estimate of the US GDP for the fourth quarter of 2017, the Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA) reported that the US economy was growing at a +2.88% annual rate, up +0.35% from their previous estimate, but still down -0.28% from the prior quarter. The boost in the headline number resulted from upward […]