Author Archive: Jeremy Parkinson

Light Vehicle Sales Per Capita: The Latest Look At The Long-term Trend

Light Vehicle Sales Per Capita: The Latest Look At The Long-term Trend

Note: The charts below have been updated to include today’s preliminary report on U.S. Light Vehicle sales from Motor Intelligence. For the past few years, we’ve been following a couple of transportation metrics: Vehicle Miles Traveled and Gasoline Volume Sales. For both series, we focus on the population adjusted data. Let’s now do something similar with the Light Vehicle […]
Ask Slim Market Week – Friday, Dec. 1

Ask Slim Market Week – Friday, Dec. 1

Blue Apron Downgraded After Management Shake-Up At RBC Capital

Blue Apron Downgraded After Management Shake-Up At RBC Capital

  As previously reported, RBC Capital analyst Mark Mahaney downgraded Blue Apron (APRN) to Sector Perform from Outperform after the company announced that co-founder Matt Salzberg will be exiting as CEO and Brad Dickerson will be stepping into that role. Mahaney, who acknowledged he has “been arguably overly patient with the company,” said the management […]
Construction Spending Details: Diving Into The Plusses And Minuses

Construction Spending Details: Diving Into The Plusses And Minuses

Construction spending rose 1.4%, led by non-residential construction. Let’s dive into the details. The Census Bureau reported a 1.4 Percent Rise in Construction Spending in October from September. The Econoday consensus only called for a 0.5% rise so let’s start there. It’s not housing that drove construction spending up a very sharp 1.4 percent in October but non-residential activity […]
S&P 500 Snapshot: Up 1.53% From Last Week

S&P 500 Snapshot: Up 1.53% From Last Week

The S&P 500 plummeted on open Friday, but began climbing just before noon and continued to rise until closing 0.20% below Thursday. Year-to-date, the index is up 18.02%. The U.S. Treasury puts the closing yield on the 10-year note at 2.37%. Here is a daily chart of the S&P 500. Today’s selling puts the volume […]
Stock Markets Mueller’d As Yield Curve Collapse Continues

Stock Markets Mueller’d As Yield Curve Collapse Continues

So to summarize – the former national security chief agrees to testify against the sitting president and The Dow drops 40pts… China stocks were mixed with CHINEXT surging overnight but CSI300 ending at the lows (worst week in 2017)   Europe saw stocks and bond yields notably lower…   But for US equities, overnight weakness […]
Market Talk – Friday, December 1

Market Talk – Friday, December 1

Although Asian indices opened well on the back of a strong US session, they unfortunately could not hold the levels. Part of the reasoning was the tax Bill would be delayed and having seen the DOW blast through the psychological 24k level many were concerned this delay could threaten Thursday gains. The Nikkei was up […]
Market Reaction To The Flynn News… US Markets, Gold And Bitcoin

Market Reaction To The Flynn News… US Markets, Gold And Bitcoin

(Audio length 00:14:09) Doc is with me today to discuss his thoughts on the Michael Flynn news admitting he lied to the FBI. This news is also moving the equity markets and USD down and gold is up but not nearly as much as Bitcoin.
Stocks And Precious Metals Charts – Copping A Plea, Tax ‘Reform’, Non-Farm Payrolls

Stocks And Precious Metals Charts – Copping A Plea, Tax ‘Reform’, Non-Farm Payrolls

I was tempted to title this Red, White, And Screwed,  borrowing a phrase from comedian Lewis Black. Alas, I am not worthy. The markets tanked around 11 AM on the news that Michael Flynn is copping a plea to lying to the FBI as part of a deal that will have him providing testimony against peers […]
Two Measures Of Inflation And Fed Policy – Friday, Dec. 1

Two Measures Of Inflation And Fed Policy – Friday, Dec. 1

The BEA’s Personal Consumption Expenditures Chain-type Price Index for October, released yesterday, shows that core inflation remains below the Federal Reserve’s 2% long-term target at 1.45%. The most recent Core Consumer Price Index release, also data through October, is higher at 1.779%. The Fed is on record as using Core PCE data as its primary […]